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CUTION CLASf 



Eleanor 0' Grady 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



ELOCUTION CLASS: 

A SIMPLIFICATION OF THE 

LAWS AND PRINCIPLES 

OF 

EXPRESSION. 



ELEANOR O'GRADY, 

Author of "Select Recitations" "Aids to Correct 

and Effective Elocution,"" " Readings and 

Recitations for Juniors" etc. 



GO: 



NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAi 

BEN^IGER brothers 

-^ Printers to the Holy Apostolic See. 

1895. 






Copyright, 1895, by Eleanor O'Grady. 



; -372,17 



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Go 1bfm 

FROM WHOM EMANATES 

THE GOOD, THE TRUE, AND THE BEAUTIFUL 

THIS BOOK 

IS MOST REVERENTLY DEDICATED. 



" Art is divine in its principles, divine in its essence, 
divine in its action, divine in its end. And what are, in 
effect, the essential principles of Art ? Are they not, 
taking them together, the Good, the True, and the 
Beautiful ? And their action, and their end, — are they 
other than a tendency incessantly directed toward the 
realization of these three terms? Now the Good, the 
True, and the Beautiful can be found only in God. Thus, 
art is divine in the sense that it emanates from His 
divine perfections ; in the sense that it constitutes for 
us even the idea of those perfections ; and, above all, 
in the sense that it tends to realize in us, about us, and 
beyond us this triple perfection that it draws from God, 

" Never has an Artist denied his God." — Dels arte. 



PEEFACE. 



" Elocution Class " is designed to give, in 
simple language, convenient form, and at small 
expense, a most thorough knowledge of the 
fundamental laws and principles of Elocution. 

It is the outcome of many years of study and 
experience. Whilst we retain in " Elocution 
Class " all that is best of the old methods, we 
also give the most useful of the laws and 
theories of Erangois Delsarte. 

Eor although the knowledge left by the great 
Erench Elocutionist is fragmentary, we believe 
we but voice the opinion of every advanced 
teacher of Art when we assert that every student 
of Expression should be made familiar with the 
laws he discovered and the most useful of the 
many good and beautiful things he has said 
regarding Art. 

We feel certain that this little book will be 
welcomed, not only by our own pupils, but also 
by those Teachers and Guardians of youth who 
regard Elocution not merely as a charming ac- 



6 Preface. 

complishment, but likewise as a most powerful 
means to correct faults of carriage, awkward 
gesticulation, inaccuracies in pronunciation, in- 
distinct enunciation — in a word, all acquired 
vocal and physical defects. 

Elocution as taught heretofore has too often 
been a blind imitation of the teacher. Now, 
the fact is, the Art of Expression has its laws 
and principles, with which every student of elo- 
cution should be made familiar. And recita- 
tions, instead of being only reproductions of 
the conceptions and mannerisms of individuals, 
should be exemplifications of the application of 
those laws and principles. 

Many think that the study of expression 
makes students self-conscious. This is the re- 
sult if superficially studied. But, certainly, 
control of one's powers, which is gained only by 
study and practice, will cause self-possession to 
take the place of self-consciousness. It also 
makes a personality more charming by giving 
, one a wider range of expression. 

Eleanor O'Grady. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

PREFACE, . .5 

DELSARTE, . . . . . . . .13 

To THE Teacher, . • . • , . ..17 

Instructions to Reciters, 21 

Definitions, 25 

Carriage, ,27 

Poising Exercises, .28 

Respiration, . .29 

Breathing Exercises, 30 

Channels for Respiration, . . . .31 
Pauses, . . ... . . . .33 

Examples : Only a Soldier, 35 

Here Sleeps the Bard. — Moore, . . . .36 

Tone, .37 

Vowels and Consonants, . 37 

Bell's Vowel Table, . . . . .38 

Exercise on Vowels, ...... 38' 

Exercise on the " Intermediate a/' . . . 38 ; 
Bell's Consonant Table, ..... 39' 

Exercise, . 40 

Exercise from Bell's "Faults of Speech," . 41 
7 



8 Contents. 

PAGE 

Force, 41 

Example of Gentle Force, 41 

Dirge.— E. G. Eastman, 41 

Subdued Force, 42 

The Night Watch. — Frangois Coppee, . . 42 
Moderate Force, ....... 50 

The Opening of the Piano, . . . .50 

Energetic Force, 52 

The Joshua of 1776. — W. B. Eose, . . .52 

Vehement Force, . 57 

Civil War. — An Episode of the Commune, . 57 

Pitch, 62 

Robert Bruce 's Heart ; or, The Last of the Cru- 
saders. — Aubrey de Vere, 63 

Quality or Tone-Color, 69 

Example : The Flag and the Cross, . . 70, 71 

The Orotund, 73 

Adam's Morning Hymn. — Milton, . . .73 

The Closing Tear. — George D. Prentice, . .76 

Articulation, . . . . . .80 

The lunkuntel, 86 

Vowels, 86 

Vowel Exercise, 87 

The Shade, 87 

Exercises: The Tone of the Voice , . . .88 
The Lights of London Town. — Sims, . . 89 

The Whisper, 91 

Exercise : The Bread of St. Jodokus, . . .92 

Suspensive Quantity, 94 

Washington, 94 

Time or Rate, 96 

Example of Moderate and Slow Time, . . 97 



Contents. 9 

PAGE 

The King's Christmas, 97 

Very Slow Time, 100 

Break y Break, Break. — Tennyson, . . .100 

Quick Time, 100 

Lochinvar. — Lady Heron's Song, . . . 100 

Very Quick Time, 103 

Extract from The Princess. — Tennyson, . .103 

Stress, 104 

Exercise, . . . . . . . . 105 

Inflections, . . 106 

Exercise on Rising and Falling Slides, . .107 

Exercise on Minor Slides, 108 

Exercise on Rising and Falling Circumflexes, . 109 
Mona's Waters, 109 

Projection of Tone, or Distancing, . .114 
Each and All. — Emerson, . . . . .115 

Gesture 118 

Priority, 119 

Retroaction, 120 

Opposition of Agents, ...... 121 

The Law of Unity, 122 

The Law of Stability, 123 

The Law of Rhythm, 123 

Delauinosne's Nine Attitudes of the Legs . .124 

The Torso, 127 

The Hand, 128 

Delaumosne's Nine Attitudes of the Hand, . . 130 

The Elbow, 132 

The Shoulder, . 132 

The Arms, 132 

The Head, 133 

Nine Attitudes of the Head, 133 



The Eyes and Eyebrows. Description 
mosne's Chart, . . . . 


of E 


elau- 


PAGE 

134 


Technique of Gesture, 

Exercises, ...... 

Mr. Austin's Classification of Gesture, 






137 
138 
140 


Exercises on Gesture, . 






142 


Relaxation, 

Exercise for the Head, . 
Exercise for the Arms, . 






143 
144 
144 


Exercise for the Legs, . 
Opposition Movements, 
Parallel Movements, 






145 
145 
146 


Walking, 
The Pivot, 










. 147 

. 147 


Bowing, . 
Kneeling, 
How to Sit, 
Speech, . 




'. 






. 147 
. 148 
. 149 
. 149 


Exercises, 










. 151 


Grouping, 
Examples, 

Transition, 
Caractacus, 










. 152 
. 152 
. 153 
. 153 


Picturing, 










. 159 


Hygiene, 
Introduction, 
Preventive V 
Hygiene of S 


alue 
chool 


of Elocutionary Exe 
Life, 


rcise, 




. 160 
. 160 
. 161 
. 168 



INDEX TO RECITATIONS. 



PAGE 

Only a Soldier, 35 

Here Sleeps the Bard.— Moore, . . % . 36 

Dirge. — E. G. Eastman, 41 

The Night Watch. — Frangois Coppee, . . 42 
The Opening of the Piano, . . . .50 
The Joshua of 1776.— W. B. Rose, ... 52 
Civil War. — An Episode of the Commune, . 57 
Robert Bruce's Heart ; or, The Last of the 
Crusaders. — Aubrey de Vere, . . x . .63 

The Flag and the Cross, 71 

Adam's Morning Hymn. — Milton, . . .73 

The Closing Year. — George D. Prentice, . . 76 

The Tcnkuntel, 86 

The Lights of London Town. — Sims, . . 89 
The Bread of St. Jodokus, .. . . .92 

Washington, 94 

The King's Christmas, 97 

Break, Break, Break. — Tennyson, . . .100 
Lochinvar. — Lady Heron's Song, . . . 100 
Extract from " The Princess." — Tennyson, . 104 

Mona's Waters, 109 

Each and All. — Emerson, 115 

Caractacus, 153 

11 



DELSARTE. 



Fkan"90IS Delsarte was born November 11, 
1811, at Solesne, in France. His father was a 
physician and inventor, but died in comparative 
poverty. 

Frangois, in 1822, was apprenticed to a por- 
celain painter of Paris, but having great apti- 
tude for music, he sought and obtained admis- 
sion to the Conservatory in 1825. Here, in 
consequence of faults in method and direction, 
he lost his voice. 

This seeming misfortune proved a blessing, 
for Delsarte devoted himself to the discovery of 
laws for expression. 

He became a teacher of singing and elocution. 

Unfortunately, Delsarte himself wrote no 
work on art. Delsarte's daughter, Madame 
Geraldy Delsarte (whom we had the pleasure 
and profit of hearing lecture), approved of but 
one of the many books that have been written 
concerning her father's teachings — that by his 
friend and pupil, M. TAbbe Delaumosne. 

13 



14 Delsarte. 

Delsarte was a Koman Catholic, and all his 
art teachings are in harmony with the creed he 
so faithfully practised. Delaumosne thus de- 
scribes his death : 

" When he had reached his sixtieth year he 
was attacked by hypertrophy of the heart, 
which left his rich organization in ruins. He 
was no longer the artist of graceful, supple, ex- 
pressive, and harmonious movements; no longer 
the thinker with profound and luminous ideas. 
But in the midst of this physical and intellect- 
ual ruin the Christian sentiment retained its 
strong, sweet energy. Defender of the sacra- 
ments which he had received in days of health, 
he asked for them in the hour of danger, and 
many times he partook of that Sacrament of 
Love whose virtue he had taught so well. Fi- 
nally, after having lingered for months in a 
state that was neither life nor death, sur- 
rounded by his pious wife and his weeping, 
praying children, he rendered his soul to God 
on the 20th of July, 1871." 

Regarding Delsarte's voice Madame Am and 
writes : 

"Delsarte was not without a voice; he had 
one, on the contrary, of great strength and 
range, of moving tone, eminently sympathetic; 
but it was an invalid organ and subject to ca- 



Delsarte. 15 

price. He was not always master of it, and this 
caused him real suffering." 

The same gifted writer relates the following: 

Halevy once suggested his singing at the 
Tuilleries before King Louis Philippe and his 
family. 

" I only sing to my friends," replied the art- 
ist. 

" That is strange," said Halevy. " Lablache 
and Duprez go whenever they are asked." 

" Delsarte does not." 

" But consider! This is to be a party given 
by the Crown Prince to his father." 

This last consideration touched him. 

" Well! I will go," he said, "but it is only on 
three conditions: I must be the only singer; I 
am to have the chorus from the Opera to ac- 
company me; and I am not to be paid." 

"You will establish a dangerous precedent." 

" Those are my irrevocable terms." 

All were granted. 

From his youth up Delsarte manifested this, 
perhaps excessive, contempt for money. On one 
occasion it was quite justifiable. Father Bam- 
bini had taken him to a party where he was to 
sing on very advantageous terms. The scholar 
was treated with deference; but the teacher, 
who had neither a fine face nor the claims of 



16 Delsarte, 

youth to shield him against aristocratic preju- 
dice, was received much as a servant would 
have been who had made a mistake in the door. 

The young singer felt the blood mantle his 
brow, and his heart rebelled. 

"Take your hat and let us go!" he said to 
his old master. 

" But why ? " replied the good man. He had 
heeded nothing but his pupil's success. Del- 
sarte dragged him away in spite of his protests, 
and lost by his abrupt departure the profits of 
the evening. 

We will conclude our short sketch by quoting 
an opinion expressed by Adolphe Gueroult 
{Presse, May 15, 1858) regarding Delsarte: " To 
discover and produce wonderful effects is pre- 
eminently the characteristic of great artists, 
but never, so far as I can learn, has it occurred 
to any one, before Delsarte, to attach these 
strokes of genius to positive laws. 

" The eloquent secrets of pantomime, the im- 
perceptible movements which, in great actors, 
so forcibly impress us, coming under the obser- 
vation of this discoverer, were by him analyzed 
and synthetized in accordance with laws whose 
clearness and simplicity render them doubly 
admirable." 



TO THE TEACHER 



In this volume we have considered rather the 
convenience and benefit of the pupil than the 
artistic arrangement of the matter. 

The knowledge it contains will be found 
quite sufficient for the ordinary student of elo- 
cution. But for those who have years to de- 
vote to the study of expression we recommend 
the authors referred to and quoted through the 
book. 

All the matter is to be memorized except that 
within brackets. We have endeavored to make 
the examples for practice more beneficial and 
charming by using (in most cases), instead of 
isolated passages, complete recitations. Delsarte 
says: " A portion of a whole cannot be seriously 
appreciated by any one ignorant of the constitu- 
tion of that whole." 

We have left the division of the matter into 
lessons to the teacher, as the length of a task, 
as well as its subject-matter, must depend upon 
the ability and need of the pupil. 



18 To the Teacher. 

The teacher should insist that, during the 
elocution lesson, no form of garment should be 
worn which would interfere with the free use 
of the agents of expression. It is impossible to 
use the voice artistically if the throat, chest, and 
abdomen be not left free action. 

One cannot tread with elasticity if the elab- 
orate mechanism of the foot be confined in 
shoes often narrower and shorter than the foot 
itself. The hinge-like movement necessary in 
beautiful walking is thus rendered impossible. 

The voice should be developed gradually and 
carefully. 

Lamperti's advice with regard to the singing 
voice should be followed by every teacher of 
vocal culture. He insists upon exercising the 
voice very softly at first: for, he says, if a good 
resonance cannot be produced on a soft tone 
it certainly cannot be made on a loud one. 

The teacher should assign an elocution les- 
son, see that the pupils prepare it, give the nec- 
essary assistance regarding its understanding 
and application — in a word, to the elocution 
lesson give the definite teaching which the 
other studies receive. 

We have found that the teaching of appropri- 
ate gestures is a most pleasing way to induce 
very young students to make the pauses, which 



To the Teacher. 19 

are so necessary to the proper expression of 
ideas, and without which the so-called elocution 
is not only disagreeable to the ear, but ruinous 
to the voice. No young pupil should be al- 
lowed to utter a harsh sound or give utterance 
to a faulty quality of voice in reciting. 

The pupil should be frequently drilled upon 
the " vowel and consonant " exercises. This 
elementary work is so often neglected that we 
feel we need not apologize for calling attention 
to it here. 



INSTRUCTIONS TO RECITERS. 

(As most of our examples for practice are also com- 
plete recitations, we here give a few hints to reciters.) 

Kecitations should be selected which incul- 
cate beauty, truth, and virtue. 

[Delsarte says: " Beauty purifies the sense, 
truth illuminates the mind, virtue sanctifies the 
soul/' 

And Plato: "The young citizens must not 
be allowed to grow up amongst images of evil, 
lest their souls assimilate the ugliness of their 
surroundings. Bather should they be like men 
living in a beautiful and- healthy place; from 
everything that they see and hear, loveliness, 
like a breeze, should pass into their souls, and 
teach them, without their knowing it, the truth 
of which beauty is a manifestation."] 

Eecitations should also be suited to the age, 
culture, and talent of the pupil. 

Upon appearing before the audience the 
reciter should stand in the position of respect — 
viz., heels nearly together, toes pointing slightly 
outward. 

20 



Instructions to Reciters. 21 

Next comes the bow; the title of the recita- 
tion is then given, with name of the author. 

In speaking to the audience the reciter 
should turn front/ reserving right and left 
oblique for personating and picturing. 

It is very essential that the reciter should see 
vividly the picture or scene to be portrayed. 
It is also of importance that, having located 
fixed objects, he should remember the location. 
For instance, if a reciter, in the commencement 
of a recitation, place a tower on his right, when 
referring to it again he must not have it on his 
left. 

In description, the reciter should glance from 
the audience to the scene he is describing; but 
in impersonation he should appear to speak to 
the imagined person and not to the audience. 
The reciter should be careful that the face ex- 
press the sentiment he is uttering. 

It is the face that must decide the real mean- 
ing, in many cases, of the gestures made by the 
hands. For example, the clasped hands are 
employed to express joy, sorrow, and prayer. 
It is the expression of the face which interprets 
and tells instantly which sentiment is meant. 

If the recitation be in poetry, the reciter must 
carefully avoid the fault of letting the voice 
fall at the end of every line. This is often 



22 Instructions to Reciters. 

done by young pupils, even when the sense im- 
peratively demands its suspension. How many, 
in this way, would make nonsense of the fol- 
lowing true statement. 

" Every lady in the land 

Has twenty nails; upon each hand 
Five; and twenty on hands and feet; 

Nor more nor less, to be complete." 

Another common error is changing pronunci- 
ation for the sake of rhyme. 

Bell in his " Essays and Postscripts on Elo- 
cution" says: " Ought a reader to be influenced 
by the poet's license; and would he be justified 
in changing pronunciation for the sake of 
rhyme ? Certainly not; because to change the 
sound is to change the word, and so to change 
the thought. The reader's duty is to present 
the intended word in its ordinary form to the 
ear, and leave the poet to be responsible for his 
failure to match the sounds." 

There are, however, some words for which 
two pronunciations are given, in which case we 
should choose the rhyming one. For example, 
the Century Dictionary gives for the word 
again two pronunciations — q-gen' and q-ganJ 

We advise the pupil to pronounce according 
to the best dictionaries, and never to change 



Instructions to Reciters. 23 

pronunciation for rhyme unless the authority 
of some good dictionary warrants it. 

Another common error is neglecting the 
" verse pause," that occurring at the end of the 
line. This is always to be observed if the poetic 
form of the composition is to be expressed. 
The neglect of this makes prose reading, de- 
stroying the music and weakening the thought. 



ELOCUTION CLASS. 



DEFINITIONS. 

What is elocution ? 

Elocution is the art of expressing feelings, 
affections, and thoughts by the threefold lan- 
guage of tone, gesture, and speech. 

What is necessary in order to become profi- 
cient in the art ? 

A knowledge of the laws and principles that 
govern tone, gesture, and speech, and sufficient 
practice to give control of the agents used in 
their expression. 

[Delaumosne thus defines the art of expres- 
sion: " It is the means of expressing the phe- 
nomena of the soul by the play of the organs."] 

What are the agents of expression ■? 

The head, torso, and limbs. 

What is the meaning of poise ? 

It means the state of being balanced. In 
elocution it signifies the opposition of the dif- 
ferent parts of the body according to the " law 

25 



26 Elocution Class. 

of grace " which the genius of Delsarte dis- 
covered and which he named the "Law of 
Opposition." 

What is art ? 

Art, in its most simple expression, is the 
faithful representation of nature. 

How does Delsarte define art ? 

Delsarte says: "Art is at once the knowl- 
edge, the possession, and the free direction of 
the agents by virtue of which are revealed the 
life, soul, and mind. It is the appropriation of 
the sign to the thing. It is the relation of the 
beauties scattered through nature to a superior 
type. It is not, then, the mere imitation of 
nature." 

[The proof that Delsarte's definition of art is 
true is shown by the work of all great artists, 
ancient and modern.] 

What does Delsarte assert regarding beauty ? 

That " perfect beauty is nowhere to be found, 
and that the artist must create it by synthetic 
work." 

[Synthesis— the composition of separate ele- 
ments into a whole.] 

He also affirms that " in so far as it responds 
to the particular type in accordance with which 
it is formed, every creature bears the crown of 
beauty; because in its correspondence with its 



Carriage. 27 

type it manifests, according to its capacity, the 
Divine Being who created it." 

He also says: " The beautiful admits of three 
characters, which we distinguish under the 
titles of ideal beauty, moral beauty, and plastic 
beauty. 

"Plato defined ideal beauty when he said: 
' Beauty is the splendor of truth/ 

"St. Augustine said of moral beauty that it is 
the splendor of goodness. 

" I define plastic beauty as the plastic mani- 
festation of truth and goodness." 



CAKRIAGE. 

[One of the most important of the benefits to 
be derived from a course of lessons in expres- 
sion is the correction of faults of carriage. 

And we take this opportunity to caution 
young teachers to be most patient while striv- 
ing to correct faults of bearing. Some of these 
faulty tendencies are hereditary, some others, 
through long habit, may have become second 
nature.] 

What should be the position of the speaker? 

Although the speaker's position may vary, it 
must always be in harmony with the sentiment 
he is uttering. 



28 Elocution Class, 

Poising Exercises. 

1. Stand easily erect, heels nearly together, 
toes pointing slightly outward, head well bal- 
anced and held midway between the shoulders, 
chest active, and the weight of the body distrib- 
uted equally upon both legs. 

What does this position signify ? 
Eespect. 

2. Stand in first position, then change the 
weight of the body to the right leg, and at the 
same time incline the head toward it and the 
torso away from it. 

Shift the weight to the left leg and simulta- 
neously incline the torso to the right and the 
head to the left. 

[The leg which bears the principal weight of 
the body is called the strong leg, and the other 
the free leg.] 

3. With the weight of the body on the left 
leg, advance the free leg a few inches — about 
three — allowing the right foot to rest lightly 
upon the ground, with the knee a little bent. 
Practise same with the left leg. 

[This is sometimes called the " speaker's 
position/'] 

In all positions where the arms are inactive, 
the head leans toward the leg which bears the 



Respiration. 2& 

principal weight of the body, and the torso from 
it. 

The pupil must be careful to shift the weight 
from the leg before using it, as ease of movement 
depends upon doing so. 

[When the arms are in motion the opposition 
is between the head and arms. The torso leans 
from the strong leg.] 

The human form has grace of expression 
when it combines the elements of ease, preci- 
sion, and harmony. 



EESPIKATION. 

Upon what does all good elocution depend ? 

Upon correct breathing. 

-There are two kinds of breathing, the natu- 
ral and the artistic. 

The natural breathing is the inhalation and 
exhalation which are necessary for life. It is 
the. breathing of the new-born infant. 

Artistic breathing consists of three acts. 
First, inhaling or filling the lungs; second,, 
holding the breath; and third, exhaling or send- 
ing it out. 

Is not natural breathing sufficient ? 

While natural breathing is sufficient for the 



30 Elocution Class. 

preservation of life, we cannot speak, sing, or 
move beautifully without artistic respiration. 

What is meant by diaphragmatic or deep 
breathing ? 

Breathing by the combined action of the 
diaphragm and the abdominal muscles. It is 
the act of filling the lungs completely. 

Is not this done in natural respiration ? 

Rarely. The lungs are often but one third 
filled. For song, speech, and, indeed, for all 
graceful movement, we need nearly two thirds 
more. 

When is deep breathing necessary ? 

Whenever full and sustained tones are re- 
quired. 

What is the diaphragm ? 

The diaphragm is the muscular and tendi- 
nous partition separating the cavity of the 
chest from that of the abdomen. It is a mus- 
cle of inspiration only. 

What is the effect of deep breathing ? 

By the practice of deep breathing the lungs 
are enabled to inhale a greater quantity of air 
and also retain it with ease. 

Breathing Exercises. 

1. Standing easily erect with the weight on the 
halls of the feet, the pupil will inhale and ex- 



Channels for Respiration. 31 

hale while counting four, being careful to take 
exactly the same time to send the breath out as 
in taking it. 

2. Inhale slowly. When the lungs are nearly 
filled, hold the breath while counting four 
slowly, then send the breath out as slowly as it 
was inhaled. 

3. Fill the lungs completely, hold the breath 
while counting five, then emit it. 

[According to " Arnaud," Delsarte taught 
diaphragmatic breathing, and insisted upon the 
use cf the artificial breath. " It is certain that 
one may sing with the natural respiration; but 
it is rapidly exhausted if not augmented by ad- 
ditional inhalation; for it results in dryness 
and breathlessness, which cause suffering alike 
to singer and listener. The artificial breath, 
on the contrary, preserves the ease and fresh- 
ness of the voice."] 

The exercise for holding the breath should 
be practised every day, increasing the time for 
holding the breath from five to sixty seconds. 



CHANNELS FOR RESPIRATION. 

"What are the channels for respiration ? 
The nostrils and the mouth. 



32 Elocution Class. 

Which should be used ? 

We recommend inhaling through the nostrils, 
especially, when we pass from a heated atmo- 
sphere to one that is the reverse, and also when 
the air is impure or the throat delicate. 

Can inspiration and expiration take place at 
the same time ? 

No, since all air entering the lungs and all 
breath leaving them must pass through the lar- 
ynx. Forgetfulness of this simple fact is the 
cause of very serious injury to young students. 

Should inspiration be inaudible ? 

Inspiration should be inaudible and, as far as 
possible, invisible. 

Should the lungs be entirely filled when 
about to speak ? 

No. If the lungs be entirely filled when 
about to speak, the first tone will not be under 
control. 

Should all the breath be used in speech ? 

It is not well to allow the lungs to become 
exhausted. In most cases it is best to use only 
the surplus breath. The painful "gasping" 
we so often hear is a consequence of ignorance 
with regard to this matter. 

Is not the " gasp " sometimes used as a means 
of expression ? 

It is. "Every quality of utterance that 



Pauses. 33 

would be a defect if habitual may be an excel- 
lence under appropriate circumstances. Whis- 
per, hoarseness, panting, respiration, tremulous 
voice, and every other functional affection may 
find occasion for their manifestation in expres- 
sive delivery ." (Bell.) 

What should be the first aim in vocal culture ? 

To preserve and improve the natural beauty 
of the voice. 



PAUSES. 



Eespiration and silence are both powerful 
means of expression. The student must there- 
fore be carefully instructed not only how to 
breathe, but also regarding the opportunities 
offered to do so. 

" In good reading or reciting, every part of a 
sentence expressing a separate fact or circum- 
stance is given by itself.''" 

A pause may be made after the subject of a 
sentence, whether simple or compound. 

A pause is required between two nouns in 
the same case. 

A pause should be made before and after ad- 
jectives following the words they qualify. 

A pause must be made before and after 



34 Elocution Class. 

words and phrases which express time, place, or 
manner. 

A pause is necessary before and after a slurred 
passage. 

A pause should be made after but, hence, and 
similar words that mark a transition. 

A pause should be made in case of ellipses. 

There is a pause required on the last word of 
a line in poetry, even when the completion of 
the sense is found in the line which follows. 
This dwelling on the word has been called the 
"verse pause." No one can read poetry ex- 
quisitely without employing this pause. 

[The above suggestions are simply given to 
assist. The pupil must understand that there 
are many pauses made in emotional reading for 
which no rules can be given, as they v are not 
subject to laws.] 

[Delaumosne treats of respiration and silence 
under the same title because of their affinity. 
Here are some of the beautiful things he says 
regarding silence: 

" Silence is God's speech." 

"Gesture is conceived in silence." 

" Silence is the father of speech, and should 
justify it."] 

In the following exercise the pauses are 
marked thus ('). 



Pauses. 35 

ONLY A SOLDIER. 

Unarmed and unattended' walks the Czar' 
Through Moscow's busy street' one winter's 
day. 

The crowd' uncover' as his face' they see — 
" God greet the Czar ! " they say. 

Along his path' there moved' a funeral — 
Gray spectacle of poverty and woe'; 

A wretched sledge', dragged' by one weary 
man' 
Slowly' across the snow. 

And on the sledge', blown by the winter wind', 
Lay' a poor coffin', very rude and bare. 

And he' who drew it' bent' before his load' 
With dull and sullen air. 

The Emperor' stopped and beckoned' to the 
man: 
" Who isV thou bearest' to the grave ? " he 
said. 
" Only a soldier', sire! " the short reply; 
" Only a soldier', dead." 

" Only a soldier! " musing, said the Czar; 

" Only a Eussian, who was poor and brave. 
Move on, I follow. Such' a one goes not 

Un'honored' to his grave." 



36 Elocution Class. 

He bent his head, and silent' raised his cap, 
The Czar of all the Kussians', pacing' slow, 

Following the coffin', as again' it went 
Slowly' across the snow. 

The passers on the street', all wondering', 
Looked' on that sight', then followed' si- 
lently'; 

Peasant and prince, the artisan and clerk, 
All' in one company'. 

Still, as they went, the crowd' grew ever more, 
Till thousands' stood around the friendless 
grave, 

Led' by that princely heart', who', royal', true/ 
Honored' the poor and brave. 

HERE SLEEPS THE BARD.— MOORE. 

(The verse pause is marked thus — .) 
Here sleeps the Bard who knew so well 
All the sweet windings of Apollo's shell; 
Whether its music rolled like torrents near, 
Or died, like distant streamlets, on the ear. 

Sleep, sleep, mute bard ; alike unheeded now 
The storm and zephyr sweep thy lifeless brow; — 
That storm, whose rush is like thy martial lay; 
That breeze which, like thy love-song, dies 
away. 



Vowels and Consonants. 37 

TONE. 

Where does all vocal sound begin? 

In the larynx. The tube through which the 
air passes to the lungs and back again is called 
the windpipe or trachea. At its top is the lar- 
ynx, and voice is formed by the breath, in its 
outward passage, setting in vibration the edges 
of the aperture of the larynx, the glottis. 

How many properties has the voice ? 

The voice has three properties — force, pitch, 
and quality. 

To what do they relate ? 

Force relates to the energy with which a tone 
is given, pitch to its elevation or depression, 
and quality to its kind. 

[The best efforts of both teacher and pupil 
must be directed to the cultivation of these 
three properties of the voice, as all the artifices 
of the elo2utionist depend upon them.] 



VOWELS AND CONSONANTS. 

[After the pupil has mastered the primary 
lessons on Position, Eespiration, and Tone, too 
much attention cannot be given to drills upon 
Enunciation, as beauty and intelligibility cf 
speech, depend upon the perfection with which 



38 Elocution Class. 

the vowels and consonants of a language are 
enunciated.] 

BELL'S VOWEL TABLE. 



1. 


eel; 


8. 


her; 


2. 
3. 


ill;' 
ale; 


9. 
10. 


up, urn; 

on, all; 


4. 

5. 


ell, ere; 
an; 


11. 
12. 


ore; 
old;^ 


6. 

7. 


ask; 
ah; 


13. 


pull, pool 



U after a vocal consonant is u as in duty, 
literature; u after r is oo, as in rue, true. 

Exercise on Votveh. 

Give in a whisper e, a, ah, awe, oh, oo. 

Give the vowel e, extending the lips side- 
wise. 

Open the mouth to its widest extent and 
give ah. 

Contract the lips and give oo, as in cool. 

Exercise on the " Intermediate a/ 9 
[As many pupils fail to give the intermediate 
a, we advise, for such, practice in the follow- 
ing exercise. Between a in at and a in father 
there is an intermediate sound marked a.] 

Abaft, advance, advantage, aft, after, aghast, 



Vowels and Consonants. 



39 



alabaster, alas, amass, iuw w ei 1 -, -ant; ask, asp, 
ass, bask, basket, blanch, blast, bombast, branch, 
brass, cask, casket, cast, castle, chaff, chance, 
chandler, chant, clasp, class, contrast, craft, 
dance, dastard, disaster, draff, draft, draught, 
enchant, enhance, ensample, example, fast, 
flask, grasp, ghastly, glance, glass, graff, graft, 
grant, grass, haft, hasp, lance, lanch, lass, last, 
mask, mass, mast, mastiff, mischance, nasty, 
pant, pass, past, pastor, pasture, pilaster, plaster, 
prance, quaff, raff, raft, rafter, rasp, repast, 
salamander, sample, shaft, slander, slant, staff, 
surpass, task, trance, vast, waft. 

BELL'S CONSONANT TABLE. 
Breath. 

i p 

Lips i wh 



Voice, 
b 



Nasal Voice, 
m 



Point of tongue 



f 
t 
s 
th(in) 



w 
v 
d 
z 

th(en) 



Top of tongue \ 

Back of tongue, k 
J" or soft g = dzh 
qu = kw ; j)h = f . 



r (rough) r (smooth) 

1 

sh 



ch 



zh 

g ng 

tsh (as in church); 



40 Elocution Class. 



Exercise. 



[" Distinctness in articulation depends upon 
the application of the following principle : Ev- 
ery articulation consists of two parts — a posi- 
tion and an action. The former brings the 
organs into approximation or contact, and the 
latter separates them by a smart percussive re- 
coil from the articulative position."] 

Pronounce ip, bringing the lips together and 
then separating them. 

Pronounce it, touching the tongue against 
the upper teeth and then drawing it back 
promptly. 

Pronounce the syllable ik, touching the back 
of the tongue against the soft palate. 

Practise b, d, and g in the same manner. 

" The initial consonant should be articulated 
distinctly; the spirit of the word is contained in 
it." 

R is articulated but faintly: 1st, before any 
consonant; 2d, at the end of any word. In 
these situations r has always a vowel sound, 
that of er or ir in the words her, sir. 

Obscure vowels should be given as nearly 
like the full sound as one can without seeming 
pedantic. 






Force. 41 

Exercise from BelVs "Faults of Speech" 

" Prolong for some seconds the elements 
printed in capitals in the following words, as 
commonly pronounced: feeL, seeM, vaiN, 
soNG, leaVe, wiTH (dh), iS (z), rouGe (ah); 
We, Yes, Ale, An, EE1, End, Isle (ahee) ; In, 
Old, On, Use (yoo), Us, Arm (ah), All (aw), 
OOze, OW1 (ahoo), Oil (awee)." 



FOECE. 

What is force ? 

Force relates to the energy with which a tone 
is given. 

Name the degrees of force. 

For practice in elocution five degrees of force 
are usually given — gentle force, subdued force, 
moderate force, energetic force, and vehement 
force. 

Example of Gentle Force. 

DIRGE.— E. G. EASTMAN. 

Softly ! She is lying with her lips apart; t 
Softly! She is dying of a broken heart. 
Whisper ! Life is growing dim within her 

breast; 
Whisper! She is going to her final rest. 



42 Elocution Class. 

Gently ! She is sleeping : 
She has breathed her last! 
Gently ! while you're weeping 
She to heaven has passed ! 

Subdued Force. 

THE NIGHT WATCH— FRANQO IS COPP&E. 

Soon as her lover to the war had gone, 
Without tears or commonplace despair, 
Irene de Grand fief reassumed the garb 
That at the convent she had worn — black' dress 
With narrow pelerine — and the small cross 
In silver at her breast. Her piano closed, 
Her jewels put away — all save one ring, 
Gift of the Viscount Eoger on that eve 
In the past spring-time when they had parted, 
Bidding farewell, and from Irene's brow 
Culling one silken tress, that he might wear it 
In gold medallion close upon his heart. 

In the ranks 
He took a private's place. What that war was 
Too well is known. 
Days came and went till weeks wore into 

months, 
Still she held back her rebel tears, and bravely 

strove 
To live debarred of tidings. % 



Force, 43 

Then came the siege of Paris — hideous time! 
Spreading through France as gangrene spreads, 

invasion 
Drew near Irene's chateau. 
Eoger at Metz was with his regiment safe, 
At last date un wounded. He was living; 
He must be living; she was sure of that. 
Counting her beads, she waited, waited on. 

^\V?tkened, one morning, with a start, she heard 
In the far copses of the park shots fired 
In quick succession. 

It had indeed 
Been a mere skirmish — that, and nothing more. 

" 'T won Id be well/' 
Eemarked Irene, " that an ambulance 
AVere posted here." 

In fact, they had picked up 
Just at that moment, where the fight had been, 
A wounded officer — Bavarian, he — 
Shot through the neck. And, when they 

brought him in, 
That tall young man, all pale, eyes closed, and 

bleeding, 
Irene commanded he be borne 
Into the room by Roger occupied 



44 Elocution Class. 

When he came wooing there. Then, while they 

put 
The wounded man to bed, she carried out 
Herself his vest and cloak all stained with 

blood; 
Bade the old valet wear an air less glum 
And stir himself with more alacrity; 
And when the doctor dressed the wound, lent 

aid, 
As of the Sisterhood of Charity, 
With her own hands. The officer at last, 
Wonder and gratitude upon his face, 
Sank down among the pillows deftly laid as one 

asleep. 

Evening came, 
Bringing the doctor. When he saw his patient 
A strange expression flitted o'er his face, 
As to himself he muttered: "Yes; flushed 

cheek; 
Pulse beating much too high. Phew! a bad 

night; 
Fever, delirium, and the rest that follows !" 
"But will he die?" with tremor on her lip 
Irene asked. 

" Who knows ? If possible, 
We must arrest the fever. This prescription 
Oft succeeds. But some one must take note 



Force. 45 

Of the oncoming fits, must watch till morn, 
And tend him closely." 

" Doctor, I am here." 
" Not you, young lady! Service such as this 
One of your valets can — " 

" Xo, doctor, no ! 
Eoger perchance may be a prisoner yonder, 
Hurt, ill. If he such tending should require 
As does this officer, I would he had 
A gentle lady for his nurse." 

"So be it; 
You will keep watch, then, through the night. 
The fever 

Must not take hold, or he will straightway die; 
Give him the potion four times every hour. 
I will return to judge of its effects 
At daylight." Then lie went his way. 

Scarcely a minute had she been in charge 
AVhen the Bavarian, to Irene turning, said: 
"This doctor thought I was asleep; 
But I heard every word. I thank you, lady; 
I thank you from my very inmost heart — 
Less for myself than for her sake to whom 
You would restore me, and who there at home 
Awaits me." 



46 Elocution Class. 

" Hush ! Sleep, if you can; 
Do not excite yourself. Your life depends 
On perfect quiet." 

"No.no! 
I must at once unload me of a secret 
That weighs upon me. I a promise made, 
And I would keep it. Death may be at hand." 
" Speak, then," Irene said, "and ease your soul." 
" It was last month, by Metz ; 'twas my ill fate 
To kill a Frenchman." 

She turned pale, and lowered 
The lamp-light to conceal it. He continued : 
" We were sent forward to surprise a cottage; 
I drove my sabre 

Into the soldier's back who sentry stood 
Before the door. He fell; nor gave the alarm. 
We took the cottage, putting to the sword 
Every soul there. 

a Disgusted with such carnage, 
Loathing such scene, I stepped into the air. 
Just then the moon broke through the clouds 

and showed me 
There at my feet a soldier on the ground. 

'Twas he— 
The sentry — whom my sabre had transpierced. 
I stooped, to offer him a helping hand; 



Force. 47 

But, with a choked voice, ' It is too late/ he 
said: 

6 1 must needs die. * * * You are an offi- 
cer — 

Promise — only promise 

To forward this/ he said, his fingers clutching 

A gold medallion hanging at his breast, 

' To ' Then his latest thought 

Passed with his latest breath. The loved one's 
name, 

Mistress or bride affianced, was not told 

By that poor Frenchman. Seeing blazoned 
arms 

On the medallion, I took charge of it, 

Hoping to trace her at some future day 

Among the old nobility of France, 

To whom reverts the dying soldier's gift. 

Here it is. Take it. But, I pray you, swear 

That, if death spares me not, you will fulfil 

This pious duty in my place." 

Therewith 
He the medallion handed her; and on it 
Irene saw the Viscount Roger's blazoned arms. 
"I swear it, sir/' she murmured; "sleep in 
peace." 

Solaced by having this disclosure made, 

The wounded man sank down in sleep. Irene, 



48 Elocution Class. 

Her bosom heaving, and with eyes aflame 
Though tearless all, stood rooted by his side. 
" Yes, he is dead, her lover! These his arms; 
His blazon this; the very blood-stains his! 

" Struck from behind, 
Without a cry or call for comrades' help, 
Koger was murdered! And there, sleeping, 

lies 
The man who murdered him! Yes; he has 

boasted 
How in the back the traitorous blow was dealt. 

"And now he sleeps, with drowsiness op- 
pressed — 
Sogers assassin; and 'twas I, Irene, 
Who bade him sleep in peace! Oh! 
With what cruel mockery — cruel and supreme — 
Must I give him tendance here; 
By this couch watch, till dawn of day, 
As loving mother by a suffering child, 
So that he die not! 

"And there the flask upon the table stands 
Charged with his life. He waits it ! Is not this 
Beyond imagination horrible ? 

" Oh, away ! such point 
Forbearance reaches not. What! while it glit- 
ters 



Force. 49 

There in sheath, the very sword 

Wherewith the murderer struck the blow! 

Fierce impulse bids it from the scabbard leap — 

Shall I, in deference 

To some fantastic notion that affects 

Human respect and duty, shall I put 

Bepose and sleep and antidote and life 

Into the horrible hand by which all joy 

Is ravished from me ? Never! I will break 

The assuaging flask. * * * But no! 'Twere 

needless that; 
I need but leave to Fate to work the end. 
Fate, to avenge me, seems to be at one 
With my resolve. 'Twere but to let him die! 
Yes; there the life-preserving potion stands; 
But for one hour might I not fall asleep ? 

"Infamy!" 

And still the struggle lasted, till the German, 
Housed by her deep groans from his wandering 

dreams, 
Moved, ill at ease, and, feverish, begged for 

drink. 

Up towards the antique Christ in ivory 
At the* bed's head, suspended on the wall, 
Irene raised the martyr's look sublime; 
Then, ashen pale, but ever with her eyes 
Turned to the God of Calvary, poured out 



50 Elocution Class. 

The soothing draught, and with a delicate hand 
Gave to the wounded man the drink he asked. 
And so wore on the laggard, pitiless hours. 

But when the doctor in the morning came 
And saw her still beside the officer, 
Tending him and giving him his drink 
With trembling fingers, he was much amazed 
To see that through the dreary watches of the 

night 
The raven locks that crowned her fair young 

brow at set of sun 
By morning's dawn had turned to snowy white! 

Moderate Force. 
THE OPENING OF THE PIANO. 

In a little southern parlor of the house you 

may have seen, 
With the gambrel-roof, and the gable looking 

westward to the green, 
At the side toward the sunset, with the window 

on its right, 
Stood the London-made piano I am dreaming 

of to-night. 

Ah, me; how I remember the evening when it 
came; 



Force. 51 

What a cry of eager voices, what a group of 

cheeks in flame, 
When the wondrous box was opened that had 

come from o'er the seas, 
With its smell of mastic-varnish and its flash of 

ivory keys. 

Then the children all grew fretful in the rest- 
lessness of joy, 

For the boy would push his sister, and the sis- 
ter crowd the boy, 

Till the father asked for quiet, in his grave,, 
paternal way; 

But the mother hushed the tumult with the 
words, " Now, Mary, play." 

For the dear soul knew that music was a very 

sovereign balm; 
She had sprinkled it o'er Sorrow and seen its 

brow grow calm, 
In the days of slender harpsichords with tap- v 

ping, tinkling quills, 
Or caroling to her spinet with its thin metallic 

thrills. 

So Mary, the household minstrel, who always 

loved to please, 
Sat down to the new " Clementi," and struck 

the glittering keys. 



52 Elocution Class. 

Hushed were the children's voices, and every 
eye grew dim, 

As, floating from lip and finger, arose the " Ves- 
per Hymn." 

Catharine, child of a neighbor, curly and rosy- 
red 

{Wedded since, and a widow — something like 
ten years dead), 

Hearing a gush of music such as none before, 

Steals from her mother's chamber and peeps at 
the open door. 

Just as the " Jubilate/' in threaded whisper, 

dies, 
46 Open it ; open it, lady," the little maiden 

cries 
{For she thought 'twas a singing creature caged 

in a box she heard) ; 
""Open it; open it, lady; and let me see the 

bird." 

Energetic Force. 
(The role of Tarleton requires "energetic force.") 
THE JOSHUA OF 1776.- W. B. ROSE. 
A hoof-beat clatter down the road, a hundred 

years ago, 
Foretold through Carolina woods the coming 
of the foe; 



Force. 53 

In dusty clouds they swept along, while here 

and there were seen 
A scarlet coat, a tossing plume, a bit of sabre 

sheen; 
Well-mounted men, hard riders all, a scourge 

by night and day — 
The cruel Tarleton and his band were on a wild 

foray. 
No quarter now for patriot souls, for Tarleton, 

in his wrath, 
With blazing ricks and ruined homes will work 

his cruel path! 
The hoof-beats echo far ahead with muffled, 

throbbing hum, 
Until unto a modest home at last they faintly 

come; 
Yet though the sound is faint, it brings a 

woman to the door 
With anxious face, which shows she dreads 

some misery in store. 
She glances dow T n the sandy road — she sees the 

dusty cloud, 
With gleaming scarlet here and there — and 

then she cries aloud: 
" The British, George! They're coming fast! 

Unto the woods, oh, run!" 
A moment more a man springs forth with pow- 
der-horn and gun. 



54 Elocution Class. 

A hurried kiss — a dozen strides — he enters in 
the wood — 

The watching, woman smiles, and thanks the 
Giver of all good, 

And turns and draws a bright-faced boy with 
tender clasp more near: 

" My darling child, your father's safe, and now 
we've naught to fear!" 

Up ride the sullen British band. "-Dismount!" 
the leader cries; 

"Surround the house and search it well; we 
must not lose this prize." 

With heavy clank he enters in and scowls about 
the room 

At burnished pans and tall old clock and an- 
cient spinning-loom. 

"Your husband, madam, where is he? Pro- 
duce the rebel clown! 

Eefuse, and, madam, here I swear to burn your 
dwelling down ! 

Where is he hid ?" She shakes her head. "I 
cannot, cannot tell;" 

She turns away to hide the tears that will un- 
bidden well. 

" So stubborn, eh ? Now mark my words ! in 
but ten minutes more, 

At hour of three by yonder clock, the torch 
will light your door!" 



Force. 55 

He turns and calls to waiting men: "Search 
every crack and nook; 

And if you fail, Fll start a light may serve to 
help us look ! " 

He strides up to the window, then, and look? 
out grim and sour 

Across the pleasant southern fields, and waits 
the fatal hour. 

The woman's eyes are filled with woe, with pain. 
her heart doth swell, 

And yet between her ashy lips she sighs : " E 
cannot tell!" 

The moments fly; then Tarleton turns, the tall- 
old clock to see — 

" How's this ? " he mutters, " time must lag ;, 
eight minutes still to three ! " 

Again he gazes o'er the field with grim, un- 
swerving eye, 

While softly weeps the hapless dame, and fast 
the moments fly. 

Then Tarleton swiftly turns again the tall old 
clock to see — 

" What juggling work is this ? " he cries; " eight 
minutes still to three ! " 

He stands and stares a moment thus; then- 
strides across the floor, 

With hasty gestures, wide he throws the tall 
clock's ancient door — 



56 Elocution Class. 

And there, within the narrow case, that bright- 
faced boy doth stand, 
Holding above his curly head a clock-weight in 

each hand! 
Grim Tarleton stares, the mother starts, the 

little lad alone 
As calmly stands within the clock as if to 

marble grown. 
A moment thus, then Tarleton roars: " Come 

forth, you little knave ! " 
" No knave, sir," stoutly says the boy, "to try 

our home to save!" 
Grim Tarleton laughs both loud and long: 

"And what's your name?" he cries. 
u 'Tis Joshua," the little man in accents clear 

replies. 
" Well named, well named," roars Tarleton, 

then — his laugh the room doth fill — 
"For though you didn't stop the sun, you've 

made old time stand still ! 
Take care, madam, of this young scamp; with 

such youths at your back, 
We might as well give up the fight and take 

the homeward track." 
He laughs again, and, laughing, clanks across 

the cottage floor; 
He mounts his horse; he cries " Away !" they 

never saw him more. 






Force. 57 



Vehement Force. 

(The cries of the mob are given with " vehement 
force.") 

CIVIL WAR.— AN EPISODE OF TEE 
COMMUAE* 

The mob was fierce and furious. They cried : 
" Kill him! " the while they pressed from every 

side 
Around a main haughty, unmoved, and brave, 
Too pitiless himself to pity crave. 

" Down with the wretch! " on all sides rose the 

cry. 
The captive found it natural to die; 
The game is lost — he's on the weaker side, — 
Life too is lost, and so must fate decide. 

From out his home they drag him to the street, 
With fiercely clenching hands and hurrying feet, 
And shouts of, ''Death to him!" The crimson 

stain 
Of recent carnage on his garb showed plain. 

This man was one of those who blindly slay 
At a kiug's bidding. He'd shot men all day, 

* From the French; translated by Mrs. Lucv H. Hooper 
for the Xew York Home Journal. 



-58 Elocution Glass. 

Killing he knew not whom, he scarce knew 

why; 
Now marching forth impassible to die, 
Incapable of mercy or of fear, 
Letting his powder-blackened hands appear. 

A woman clutched his collar ivith a frown, 
" He's a Koyalist — he has shot us down ! " 

"That's true/' the man said. "Kill him!" 

"Shoot!" "Kill!" 
"No, at the Arsenal " — " The Bastile!" 

" Where vou will," 
The captive answered. And with fiercest 

breath, 
Loading their guns, his captors still cried f 

"Death!" 

* We'll shoot him like a wolf! " "A wolf, am I ? 
Then you're the dogs," he calmly made reply. 

" Hark, he insults us! " And from every side 
Clenched fists were shaken, angry voices cried, 
Ferocious threats were muttered, deep and low. 
With gall upon his lips, gloom on his brow, 
And in his eyes a gleam of baffled hate, 
He went, pursued by howlings, to his fate, 
'Treading with wearied and supreme disdain 
Midst forms of dead men he perchance had 
slain.. 



Force. 59 

Dread is that human storm, an angry crowd. 
He braved its wrath with head erect and proud. 
He was not taken, but walled in with foes; 
He hated them with hate the vanquished 

knows; 
He would have shot them all had he the 

power. 
" Kill him — he's fired upon us for an hour! " 
" Down with the murderer! " " Down with the 

spy!" 
And suddenly a small voice made reply, 
"No, no; he is my father! " And a ray 
Like to a sunbeam seemed to light the day. 

A child appeared, a boy with golden hair, 
His arms upraised in menace or in prayer. 

All shouted, " Shoot the bandit!" "Fell the 

spy!" 
The little fellow clasped him with a cry 
Of "Papa, papa, they'll not hurt you now!" 
The light baptismal shone upon his brow. 

Prom out the captive's home had come the 

child. 
Meanwhile the shrieks of, "Kill him — Death! " 

rose wild. 

The cannon to the tocsin's voice replied. 
Sinister men thronged close on every side, 



60 



Elocution Class. 



And, in the street, ferocious shouts increased 
Of: "Slay each spy — each minister — each 

priest — 
We'll kill them all!" 

The little boy replied, 
" I tell you this is papa." One girl cried, 
" A pretty fellow— see his curly head! " 
" How old are yon, my boy ? " another said. 

" Do not kill papa! " only he replies. 

A soulful lustre lights his streaming eyes. 

Some glances from his gaze are turned away, 
And the rude hands less fiercely grasp their 
prey. 

Then one of the most pitiless says, " Go — 

Get you home, boy." "Where — why?" "Don't 

you know ? 
Go to your mother." Then the father said, 
"He has no mother." " What— his mother's 

dead ? 
Then you are all he has ? " " That matters 

not," 
The captive answers, losing not a jot 
Of his composure as he closely pressed 
The little hands to warm them in his breast, 
And says, " Our neighbor Catharine, you know; 






Force. 61 

Go to her/' " You'll come too ? " " Not yet/' 
" No, no; 

Then Til not leave you." " Why ? " " These 

men, I fear, 
Will hurt you, papa, when I am not here." 

The father to the chieftain of the band 

Says softly, " Loose your grasp and take my 

hand. 
I'll tell the child to-morrow we shall meet, 
Then you can shoot me in the nearest street, 
Or farther off, just as you like." " 'Tis well ! " 
The words from those rough lips reluctant fell. 
And. half unclasped, the hands less fierce 

appear. 
The father says, " You see, we're all friends 

here, 
I'm going with these gentlemen to walk : 
Go home. Be good. I have no time to talk." 
The little fellow, reassured and gay, 
Kisses his father and then runs away. 

" Xow he is gone, and we are at our ease, 

And you can kill me where and how you 

please," 
The father says. " "Where is it I must go ? " 
Then through the crowd a long thrill seems to 

flow. 



62 Elocution Class. 

The lips, so late with cruel wrath afoam, 
Belexitingly and roughly cry, "Go home! " 



PITCH. 



To what does pitch relate ? 

Pitch relates to the elevation or depression of 
the voice. 

How many degrees of pitch are given ? 

For practice in elocution five degrees of 
pitch are given, but the student must remem- 
ber that the degrees range through the entire 
compass of the voice. 

Name the five degrees of pitch. 

Middle, high, very high, low, and very low. 

When should they be employed ? 

Middle pitch should be used for unemotional 
passages and ordinary conversation; high pitch 
to express exultation, joy, and kindred emotions; 
very high pitch is used in the extremes of joy 
and grief, and is employed in calling; low 
pitch is used to express solemnity, awe, and like 
emotions; and very low pitch the extremes of 
awe, reverence, and dread. 

The following recitation gives opportunity 
for practice of all degrees of pitch : 









Pitch. 63 

ROBEBT BBUOES HEABT; OB, THE LAST OF 
THE CRUSADERS.— AUBREY DE VEBE. . 

(Abridged for Recitation.) 
"This tediousness in death is irksome, lords, 
To standers-by: I pray you to be seated." 
Thus spake King Robert, dying in his chair. 
His nobles and his knights around him stood 
Silent, with brows bent forward. He continued : 
" Because ye have been loyal, knights and peers, 
I bade you hither, first, to say farewell; 
Next, to commend to you a loyalty, 
Not less but greater, to your country due — 
For I to her was loyal from the first. 
She lies sore shaken ; guard her as a mother 
Her cradled babe, a man in strength his sire; 
Guard her from foreign foes, from traitors near, 
Yea, from herself if evil dreams assail her. 
Sustain her faith; in virtue bid her walk 
Before her God, a nation clad with light." 
He spake; then sat awhile with eyes close shut. 
At last they opened; rested full on one 
The sole who knelt: large tears by him unfelt 
Boiled down his face: 'twas Douglas. Thus 

the King : 
" That hour we spake of oft, yet never feared, 
best and bravest of my friends, is come. 
James, we were friends since boyhood; side by 

side 



64 Elocution Class. 

We stood that hour when I was crowned at 

Scone — 
Crowned by a woman's hand, when kinsmen 

none 
Of hers approached me. Many a time we two 
Flung back King Edward's powers. Betrayed, 

deserted, 
By bloodhounds tracked we roamed the mid- 
night moors: 
I saw thy blood-drops stain Loch Etive's rocks; 
Thy knees sustained my head when, faint with 

wounds, 
Three days on Kachrin's island-shores I lay. 
One night— rememberest thou that night? — I 

cried : 
4 Give o'er the conflict! Bootless is this war: 
Would God w T e battled in the Holy Land 
Eor freeing of Christ's Tomb!' Then an- 

swer'dst thou : 
4 Best of Crusaders is that king who fights 
To free his country slaved ! ' " Douglas replied, 
"I said it, sire; God said it too, and crowned 

you. 
God, if He wills, can make you yet Crusader; 
In death Crusader — yea, or after death." 
The King sighed slightly, and his eyelids sank; 
Later his eyes unclosed; and with strong voice 



Pitch. 65 

And hand half raised as if it grasped a sceptre, 

He spake: 

" Yon case of silver is a reliquary — 

Seal thou therein my heart when dead I lie : 

In the Holy Land inter it." 

Three weeks passed, 
Five ships were freighted, and the Douglas 

sailed, 
Bearing that reliquary on his breast 
Both day and night. 

Tempest fierce 
On the head of Douglas broke. A Spanish port 
With inland-winding bosom bright and still 
Eeceived him; and Alphonso of Castile 
Welcomed, well pleased, with tournament and 

feast 
A guest in all lands famed. 

The parting day 
Had almost come; disastrous news foreran it. 
Granada's Sultan with his Saracen host 
Had broken bound, and written on his march 
His Prophet's name in fire. Alphonso craved 
Aid of his guest. In sadness Douglas mused; 
At last he spake : " Sir King, unblest is he 
That knight whom warring duties rend asunder: 
My king commanded me to Palestine! 
For thirty days that word was in mine ears 



66 Elocution Class. 

'Neath all our festal songs. A deeper voice 
Assails 'me now, mounting from that great 

Heart 
Shrined on this breast. Thus speaks it: i That 

command 
I gave thee, knowest thou not I countermand — 
I who from righteous battle ne'er turned back? ' " 
The Douglas drooped his head; a trumpet-peal 
Shrilled from afar. He raised that head; he 

spake: 
" Alphonso of Castile, my choice is made — 
With thee I march!" The Scottish knights 

drew swords, 
Shouted, "Saint Andrew!" and the Knights 

of Spain 
Made answer, "Santiago!" 

Ere long they met 
On a wide plain with white sierras girt 
The Prophet's sons, for centuries their foes. 
The Moors were to the Christians three to one. 
Por hours that battle-storm was heard afar. 
Numbers at last prevailed; and on the left, 
The standard of the Cross some whit lost ground : 
Douglas restored the battle. On the right 
His Scottish knights and he drove all before 

them. 
The Moors gave way; fleet were their Arab 

steeds, 



Pitch. 67 

And better than their foes they knew the 

ground. 
Far off they formed anew; they waved again 
Their mooned flags and crescent scimitars 
Well used to reap the harvest-fields of death. 
Once more they shouted "Allah!" Spent and 

breathless 
The northern knights drew bridle on a slope 
A stone Vth row distant. Douglas shouted, 

"Forward!" 
None answered. Sadly — not in wrath — he 

spake: 
" friends, how oft on stormy war-fields proved, 
This day what lack ye ? Naught save an 

example! " 
Forward he spurred; he reached the Saracen 

van ; 
He raised on high that silver shrine; he cried, 
" Go first, great Heart, as thou vvert wont to go; 
Douglas will follow thee and die." He flung it: 
Next moment he was in among the Moors. 
The Scots knights heard that word; they saw; 

they charged. 
Direful the conflict; from a hill AlphonSo 
Watched it, but, pressed himself, could spare 

no aids: 
He sent them when too late. 

The setting sun 



68 Elocution Class. 

Glared fiercely at that fugitive Moorish host; 
Shone sadly on that remnant, wounded sore, 
Which gazed in circle on their great one dead. 
His hands, far-stretched, still grappled at the 

grass : 
His bosom on that silver shrine was pressed: 
His last hope this — to save it. 

They returned, 
That wounded remnant, to their country's 

shores : 
With them they bore the Bruce's Heart; yet 

none 
Sustained it on his breast. In season due 
The greatest and the best of Scotland's realm, 
In sad procession moved with sacred rites 
From arch to arch of Melrose' holy pile, 
Following King Robert's Heart, before them 

borne 
'Neath canopy of gold, and there interred it 
Nigh the high altar. 

James of Douglas, 
In later ages named " the Good Earl James," 
Was buried in the chancel of Saint Bride's, 
Near his ancestral castle. Since that day 
The Douglas shield has borne a bleeding heart 
Crowned with a kingly crown. 

There are who say 
That on the battle-morn 



Quality or Tone-color. 69 

King Eobert stood beside the Douglas' bed 
With face all glorious, like some face that saith, 
" True friends on earth divided meet in heaven/' 



QUALITY OE TOKE-COLOK. 

[" We must know how to give the voice an 
expression or color answering to the sentiment 
it conveys." — Delsarte.] 

To what does quality relate ? 

Quality relates to the kind of tone. 

How many kinds of tone are there ? 

Broadly speaking, there are but two kinds — 
pure and impure. 

What is the pure tone, and for what is it 
used ? 

The pure tone is that in which all the breath 
is vocalized, and it is used to picture tranquil 
emotions and describe beautiful objects. 

What is the impure tone, and for what is it 
employed ? 

It is the tone in which only a part of the 
breath is vocalized; it is used to express fear, 
secrecy, dread, and it is also employed when 
one is describing objects that would inspire 
such emotions. 



70 Elocution Class. 

Are there not other kinds of tone used by- 
elocutionists ? 

Although, broadly speaking, there are but 
two kinds of tone, there are others which must 
be at the command of the professional speaker. 

Name them. 

The orotund, the guttural, and the nasal. 

Describe them. 

The pure tone enlarged and intensified be- 
comes the orotund. It is used whenever grand 
thoughts are to be expressed or sublime ob- 
jects pictured. The guttural has its resonance 
chiefly in the throat, and is used to express 
scorn, hatred, and revenge. The nasal tone 
has its resonance chiefly in the nose. 

[We do not advise prolonged practice upon 
guttural and nasal tones.] 

What is the monotone ? 

The monotone — although generally given as 
a kind of tone — really has relation to pitch and 
movement. 

The monotone is the level movement of the 
voice. The voice is kept, almost continuously, 
on the same pitch. It is used to express emo- 
tions of awe and sublimity. 

Example. 
Holy ! hoTy ! holy ! Lord God of Sabaoth ! 



Quality or Tone-color. 71 

Beautiful sentiments and the description of 
beautiful things require perfectly pure tones. 

To produce pure tones, the vocal organs must 
be in a healthy condition, the pupil must know 
how to manage the breath so that no portion of 
it escape with the tone, which should be direct- 
ed to or placed in the front of the mouth. 

[The pupil should give the following ex- 
ercise, endeavoring to picture its beautiful 
thoughts with correspondingly beautiful tones :] 

THE FLAG AND THE CROSS. 

Lift up the flag, yes, set it high beside yon 

gleaming Cross, 
Close to the standard of the cause that never 

shall know loss. 
Lift praising voice, lift pledging hand; the 

world must hear and see 
The soldiers of the Cross of Christ most leal, 

dear flag, to thee. 

But wherefore speak of loyalty ? Who fears a 

watching world ? 
When have we flinched or fled from thee since 

first thou wert unfurled ? 
Carroll and Moylan spake for us, and Barry on 

the seas, 
And a third of thy sturdy cradle guard — no 

Arnold among these. 



72 Elocution Class. 

And yet they call us aliens, and yet they doubt 

our faith — 
The men who stood not with our hosts when 

test of faith was death; 
Who never shed a drop of blood when ours was 

shed like rain, 
That not a star should fall from thee nor thy 

great glory wane. 

Meagher, Meade, and Sheridan; rank and 

file as brave! 
Eise in your hundred thousands — rise, and 

shame the shallow knave. 
Yea, mine own graves, give up your dead, 

hearts strong in battle wild; 
Bleed with my blood, wide wounds, once more 

— I am a soldier's child. 

Lift up the flag beside the Cross. Will free- 
dom shrink to be 

Forever guarded by His sign who died to make 
us free ? 

"In this sign shall ye overcome" flamed forth 
from heaven of old ; 

Yea, in the Cross the weak are strong, the 
fainting heart is bold. 

mother State! native land! sacred 

flag ! Again 






The Orotund. 73 

We pledge you sonship, yea, and sword, in sight 

of God and men. 
The Cross is seal upon our oath, which angels 

glorify, 
And, soldiers of the Cross of Christ, for you 

we'll live and die. 



THE OROTUND. 

The tone pictures enlarged, deepened, and 
elevated feelings through the expanded pare 
tone or "orotund/' This tone is produced by 
the descent of the larynx, the raising of the 
veil of the palate, and the canalization of the 
tongue. 

The best direction to produce a natural 
orotund is first to produce a pure tone; then 
gradually enlarge this tone. The pupil must 
be careful to avoid all harshness. 

"Adam's Morning Hymn" gives opportunity 
to picture, through expanded pure tone or oro- 
tund, sublime thoughts. , 

ADAM'S MORNING HYMN.— MILTON. 
These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, 
Almighty! Thine this universal frame, 
Thus wondrous fair. Thyself how wondrous, 

then! 



74 Elocution Class. 

Unspeakable ! who sitt'st above these heavens, 
To us invisible, or dimly seen 
In these thy lowest works ; yet these declare 
Thy goodness beyond thought, and power di- 
vine. 
Speak, ye who best can tell, ye sons of light — 
Angels; for ye behold Him, and with songs 
And choral symphonies, day without night, 
Circle His throne rejoicing; ye in heaven, 
On earth join all ye creatures to extol 
Him first, Him last, Him midst, and without 

end. 
Fairest of stars, last in the train of night, 
If better thou belong not to the dawn, 
Sure pledge of day, that crown'st the smiling 

morn 
With thy bright circlet, praise Him in thy 

sphere — 
While day ariseth, that sweet hour of prime, 
Thou sun, of this great world both eye and 

soul, 
Acknowledge Him thy greater; sound His 

praise 
In thy eternal course, both when thou climb'st, 
And w T hen high noon hast gained, and when 

thou fall'st. 
Moon, that now meet'st the orient sun, now 

ftVst, 



The Orotund. 75 

With the fix'd stars, fix'd in their orb that flies, 

And ) r e five other wandering fires, that move 

In mystic dance not without song, resound 

His praise, who out of darkness call'd up light. 

Air, and ye elements, the eldest birth 

Of Nature's womb, that in quaternion run 

Perpetual circle, multiform; and mix 

And nourish all things; let your ceaseless 

change 
Vary to our great Maker still new praise. 
Ye mists and exhalations, that now rise 
From hill or steaming lake, dusky or gray, 
Till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold, 
In honor to the world's Great Author, rise; 
Whether to deck with clouds the uncolored sky, 
Or wet the thirsty earth with falling showers, 
Eising or falling still advance His praise. 
His praise, ye winds, that from four quarters 

blow, 
Breathe soft or loud. And wave your tops, ye 

pines, 
With every plant, in sign of worship wave. 
Fountains, and ye that warble, as ye flow, 
Melodious murmurs, warbling tune His praise. 
Join voices, all ye living souls : Ye birds, 
That, singing, up to heaven-gate ascend, 
Bear on your wings and in your notes His 

praise. 



76 Elocution Glass. 

Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk 
The earth, and stately tread or lowly creep; 
Witness if I be silent, morn or even, 
To hill, or valley, fountain, or fresh shade, 
Made vocal by my song, and taught His praise. 
Hail, Universal Lord ! be bounteous still 
To give us only good; and if the night 
Have gathered aught of evil, or conceal'd, 
Disperse it, as now light dispels the dark. 

By lowering the pitch, and still keeping the 
tone expanded, are pictured grand emotions 
mingled with awe, solemnity, or fear. 

Delsarte has said : " Loudness of tone is in- 
consistent with true feeling. The more one is 
moved, the lower the utterance. The voice is 
brilliant when there is little emotion." 

"The Closing Year" gives opportunity for 
practising this kind of tone. 

THE CLOSING YEAR.— GEORGE D. 
PRENTICE. 

'Tis midnight's holy hour — and silence now 

Is brooding, like a gentle spirit, o'er 

The still and pulseless world. Hark! on the 

winds 
The bell's deepest tones are swelling. 'Tis the 

knell 
Of the departed year. 



The Orotund. 77 

No funeral train 
Is sweeping past; yet on the stream and wood, 
With melancholy light, the moonbeams rest 
Like a pale, spotless shroud ; the air is stirred 
As by a mourner's sigh; and on yon cloud, 
That floats so still and placidly through heaven, 
The spirits of the seasons seem to stand — 
Young Spring, bright Summer, Autumn's sol- 
emn form, 
And Winter with his aged locks — and breathe 
In mournful cadences, that come abroad 
Like the far wind-harp's wild and touching wail, 
A melancholy dirge o'er the dead year, 
Gone from the earth forever. 

'Tis a time 
For memory and for tears. Within the deep, 
Still chambers of the heart a spectre dim, 
AVhose tones are like the wizard voice of Time 
Heard from the tomb of ages, points its cold 
And solemn finger to the beautiful 
And holy visions that have passed away 
And left no shadow of their loveliness 
On the dead waste of life. That spectre lifts 
The coffin-lid of hope and joy and love, 
And, bending mournfully above the pale, 
Sweet forms that slumber there, scatters dead 

flowers 
O'er what has passed to nothingness. 



78 Elocution Class. 

The Year 
Has gone, and, with it, many a glorious throng 
Of happy dreams. Its mark is on each brow, 
Its shadow in each heart. In its swift course 
It waved its sceptre o'er the beautiful, 
And they are not. It laid its pallid hand 
Upon the strong man, and the haughty form 
Is fallen and the flashing eye is dim. 
It trod the hall of revelry, where thronged 
The bright and joyous, and the tearful wail 
Of stricken ones is heard where erst the song 
And reckless shout resounded. It passed o'er 
The battle-plain, where sword and spear and 

shield 
Flashed in the light of mid-day — and the 

strength 
Of serried hosts is shivered, and the grass, . 
Green from the soil of carnage, waves above 
The crushed and mouldering skeleton. It came 
And faded like a wreath of mist at eve; 
Yet, ere it melted in the viewless air 
It heralded its millions to their home 
In the dim land of dreams. 

Remorseless Time! 
Fierce spirit of the glass and scythe ! what power 
Can stay him in his silent course, or melt 
His iron heart to pity? On, still on 



The Orotund. 79 

He presses, and forever. The proud bird, 
The condor of the Andes, that can soar 
Through heaven's unfathomable depths or brave 
The fury of the northern hurricane, 
And bathe his plumage in the thunder's home, 
Furls his broad wings at nightfall, and sinks 

down 
To rest upon his mountain-crag. But Time 
Knows not the weight of sleep or weariness, 
And night's deep darkness has no chain to bind 
His rushing pinion. Eevolutions sweep 
O'er earth like troubled visions o'er the breast 
Of dreaming sorrow; cities rise and sink 
Like bubbles on the water; fiery isles 
Spring blazing from the ocean, and go back 
To their mysterious caverns; mountains rear 
To heaven their bald and blackened cliffs, and 

bow 
Their tall heads to the plain; new empires rise, 
Gathering the strength of hoary centuries, 
And rush down like the Alpine avalanche, 
Startling the nations; and the very stars, 
Yon bright and burning blazonry of God, 
Glitter awhile in their eternal depths, 
And, like the Pleiad, loveliest of their train, 
Shoot from their glorious spheres and pass away 
To darkle in the trackless void: yet Time, 
Time, the tomb-builder, holds his fierce career, 



80 Elocution Class. 

Dark, stern, all-pitiless, and pauses not 
Amid the mighty wrecks that strew his path, 
To sit and muse, like other conquerors, 
Upon the fearful ruin he has wrought. 



ARTICULATION. 

The following lessons on " articulation " em- 
body Mr. Bell's ideas on the subject. 

[Defects in articulation should be traced to 
their cause. 

The pupil should be taught the position of the 
organs and lioiv to perform the action. For as 
every articulation consists of two parts — a posi- 
tion which brings the organs into approxima- 
tion or contact, and an action which separates 
them by a smart percussive recoil — it follows 
that, if the pupil be carefully instructed in 
both, perfect articulation will result.] 

What are articulations ? 

All actions of the vocal organs which par- 
tially or wholly obstruct or compress the breath 
or voice in the mouth are called articulations. 

AVhat is the pharynx ? 

The pharynx is a distensible cavity situated 
at the back of the mouth: below it is the glot- 
tis, in front of it the mouth, and opening from 
it above are the nares or nostrils. 



Articulation. 81 

[When the soft palate covers the upper 
pharyngal openings — the nares — the effort of 
expiration sends the breath into the mouth, 
where, if obstructed in its passage, it will col- 
lect and distend the pharynx to a greater or 
less extent, according to the degree of oral con- 
traction or obstruction and the force of expira- 
tory pressure. When the oral obstruction is 
complete, — as in forming p, t, k, b, d, g, — the 
pharynx should so dilate with the momentary 
pressure of breath that on the separation of the 
articulating organs the natural contraction of 
the pharyngal muscles effects the percussive 
audibility of the letters.] 

What are the modes of articulation ? 

1st, Complete stoppage of the breath by con- 
tact of the organs. 2d, Lateral obstruction, 
and central emission of the breath. 3d, Cen- 
tral obstruction and lateral emission of the 
breath. 4th, Lax vibration of the approximated 
organs, in a strong current of breath. 

Describe the first mode of articulation — 
" complete stoppage of the breath by organic 
contact." 

This mode of articulation is performed at 
three parts of the mouth : 1st, by the lips, form- 
ing p, b, m; 2d, by the forepart of the tongue 
and the palate, forming t, d, n\ 3d, by the 



82 Elocution Class. 

back part of the tongue and the palate, form- 
ing 1c, g, ng. 

The letters p, t, h have no other sound than 
the slight percussion which accompanies the 
act of separating the conjoined organs. The 
vocal chords are relaxed and the glottis opens, 
as in ordinary breathing. 

The letters b, d> g have the same oral actions 
as p, t, k; but while the organs are in contact, 
the glottis is brought into sonorous position, 
and an instantaneous effort of voice is heard 
before the separation of the organs. 

[It is important to have the power of produc- 
ing this shut voice with precision. The sound 
cannot be prolonged, as there is no outlet for 
the breath. The murmur of voice can last only 
until the pharynx is fully distended.] 

The letters m, n, ng have the same oral po- 
sitions, but the inner end of the nasal passages 
is uncovered by the soft palate, and, while the 
breath is shut in by the mouth, it escapes freely 
through the nostrils. 

[The three articulations m, n, ng, are the 
only elements which employ the nose in Eng- 
lish.] 

Describe the second mode of articulation — 
"lateral obstruction and central emission of 
the breath." 



Articulation. 83 

When the tip of the tongue is expanded and 
presented to the upper gum so as to leave a 
small central aperture for the emission of the 
breath, the hissing sound of s is produced. 

The articulative position of s, giving situa- 
tion to vocalized breath, produces z. 

AVhen the tip of the tongue is narrowed and 
presented without contact to the upper gum or 
front part of the palate, the passage of the 
breath causes the tongue to quiver or vibrate, 
and the sound of r is produced. 

[In Scotland, in Spain, and on the continent 
generally, r receives a stronger vibration of the 
whole forepart of the tongue.] 

If, from the position r, the point of the tongue 
be depressed and drawn inwards, so as to re- 
move the seat of articulation further back on 
the tongue and palate, the sound of sh will be 
produced. 

This articulation modifying voice produces 
the sound of the letter z in aznre, or s in pleas- 
tire, which, as the vocal form of sh, may be 
conveniently represented by zh. 

[This is the sound of the letter/ in French. 
The English y has the sound of dzh, as in Jew; 
the voiceless correspondent of this compound 
(tsli) is written ch, as in chnv.~] 

If the back part of the tongue be now raised 



84 Elocution Class. 

to the back of the palatal arch, leaving a small 
central aperture for the breath, the tongue will 
be in the position for the articulation of y, as 
heard without voice in hue, hew (= yhyoo), and 
with voice in you, use, cue, pew, tune, duke. 

[The approximation o£ the root of the tongue 
to the soft palate at the back of the mouth 
gives the last variety of the second mode of 
articulation. This guttural breathing is not 
heard in English.] 

Describe the third mode of articulation — 
" central obstruction and lateral emission of 
the breath." 

This mode of articulation is performed by 
the lower lip in making f, v; by the point of 
the tongue in forming th and I; and by the 
middle of the tongue in the sound of I before 
u, as in lute. 

F is correctly formed by applying the middle 
of the lower lip to the edge of the upper front 
teeth, leaving merely interstitial apertures for 
the breath between the sides of the lip and 
teeth. The same articulative position modify- 
ing vocalized breath produces v. 

The tip of the tongue applied to the edge or 
the inner surface of the upper teeth, with con- 
tracted lateral apertures for the passage of the 
breath between the tongue and teeth, gives the 



Articulation. 85 

formation of th, as heard (without voice) in 
thin, and (with voice) in then. 

The forepart of the tongue applied to the 
palate, with very open apertures over the sides 
of the tongue, produces I. 

[The fluency with which I combines with 
other articulations has given it the name of 
liquid.] 

Describe the fourth mode of articulation — 
" lax vibration of the approximated organs. " 

This mode of articulation is produced by so 
loosely approximating the organs that a suffi- 
ciently strong current of air causes them to vi- 
brate and flap against each other. 

When the back of the tongue and soft palate 
are thus loosely approximated, the relaxed 
edges of the latter, and especially its narrow 
prolongation, the uvula, are easily thrown into 
vibration against the tongue, and the Northum- 
brian burr is produced. 

When the forepart of the tongue — similarly 
relaxed — is laid along the edge of the palatal 
arch, a smart stroke of the breath will set it in 
vibration, and the rough r, as heard in most of 
•the continental languages, will result. 

[R is called the canine, or dog's letter; but 
the name is applicable only to the ourr, which 
is precisely the same in mechanism as the 



8G Elocution Class. 

snarl of a cur. There is not much dignity in 
this mode of articulation by any organism, 
though the lengthened r (not the burr) may be 
expressive enough in some words, as in the 
" rude rolling of a rebel drum."] 

THE TUNKUNTEL. 

"What is a Tunkuntel?" he asked, 
" And have you got one here ? 

Why don't you let me play with it ? 
And why is it so dear ? " 

" A Tunkuntel," I vaguely said, 

" Fve really never seen. 
Is it a kind of animal ? 

I don't know what you mean." 

" Oh, yes, you do! Don't tell me that! 

You know it very well, 
For you always say you love me 

More than a Tunkuntel." 

VOWELS. 

The glottis produces voice; the shape of the 
mouth gives votoel character to the voice. 

There are two great agents in vowel modifica- 
tion—the lips and the tongue. The lips, by 
their approximation, externally contract the 
oral aperture, and the tongue, by its elevation 



The Shade. 87 

towards the palate, internally diminishes the 
oral channel. 

[The effect of the labial approximation is the 
modification of the vowel quality from ah to oo. 
The effect of the lingual approximation is to 
modify the sound from ah to ee.~\ 



Vowel E 


xercist 


> 


Ale, 


Arm, 


All, 


At. 


Eve, 


End, 


Ice, 


In. 


Old, 


On, 


Use, 


Up. 


Oil, 


Out, 


Ooze. 





Eepeat the above in slow, moderate, and quick 
time. Eepeat on high, middle, and low pitch. 

With rising and falling slides, repeat in pure 
tone, orotund, and half -whisper. 



THE SHADE. 
Madame Arnaud, writing on this subject, 



The shade, that exquisite portion of art,, 
which is rather felt than expressed, is the char- 
acteristic sign of the perfection of talent; it 
forms a part of the personality of the artist. 
You may have heard a play twenty times with 
indifference, or a melody as often, only to be 
bored by it; some fine day a great actor relieves 



88 Elocution Class. 

the drama of its chill, the commonplace melody 
takes to itself wings beneath the magic of a 
well-trained, expressive, and sympathetic voice. 
Delsarte possessed this artistic talent to a su- 
preme degree, and it was one of the remarkable 
parts of his instruction; he had established 
typical phrases, where the mere shade of inflec- 
tion gave an appropriate meaning to every 
variety of impression and sentiment which can 
possibly be expressed by any one set of words. 

One of these phrases was this : " That is a 
pretty dog !" A very talented young girl suc- 
ceeded in giving to these words a great number 
of different modulations, expressing endear- 
ment, coaxing, admiration, ironical praise, pity, 
and affection. Delsarte, with his far-reaching 
comprehension, conceived of more than six hun- 
dred ways of differentiating these examples. 

Exercise. 

"I did not tell you that I would not!" 
Say this to express indifference. 
Say it in a tone of reproach. 
In such a manner as to express encourage- 
ment. 

So as to express hesitation. 

Say " Come here! " as a command. 

" Come here," in a coaxing tone. 



The Shade. 89 

" Come here/' with affection. 

" Come here ! " in a menacing tone. 

" Come here," to express fear. 

" Come here," to express sorrow. 

THE TONE OF THE VOICE. 

It is not so much what you say 

As the manner in which you say it; 

It is not so much the language you use, 
As the tones in which you convey it. 

" Come here ! " I sharply said, 

And the baby cowered and wept; 
"Come here," I cooed, and he looked and 
smiled, 

And straight to my lap he crept. 

In the following exercise, " The Lights of 
London Town," the pupil must picture in the 
first stanza the blitheness of heart and courage 
of the "country lad and lassie." This may be 
done by using bright, elastic tones. 

For the second stanza mournful tones should 
he used. 

For the third stanza still more mournful 
tones, with slow time. 

THE LIGHTS OF LONDON TOWN.— SIMS. 

The way was long and weary, 
But gallantly they strode — 



90 Elocution Class. 

A country lad and lassie — 

Along the heavy road. 
The night was dark and stormy, 

But blithe of heart were they, 
For shining in the distance 

The lights of London lay. 
gleaming lamps of London, that gem the 
city's crown, 

What fortunes lie within you, 
Lights of London Town. 

The years passed on and found them 

Within the mighty fold, 
The years had brought them trouble, 

But brought them little gold. 
Oft from their garret window, 

On long, still summer nights, 
They'd seek the far-off country 

Beyond the London lights. 
mocking lamps of London, what weary eyes 
look down 

And mourn the day they saw you, 
Lights of London Town. 

With faces worn and weary, 

That told of sorrow's load, 
One day a man and woman 

Crept down a country road. 



The Whisper. 91 

• 
They sought their native village 

Heart-broken from the fray; 
Yet shining still behind them 
The Lights of London lay. 
cruel lamps of London, if tears your light 
could drown, 
Your victims' eyes would weep them, 
Lights of London Town. 



THE WHISPER. 

[Note. — The whisper is but little used in 
recitation; the " half -whisper " is substituted,, 
as very few can give a whisper so as to be under- 
stood at a distance. We give the exercise to 
strengthen the organs of speech.] 

The practice of reading or reciting in a 
whisper so as to be understood in every part of 
a large room strengthens the organs of speech 
by bringing them more powerfully into play. 

Whispering in this manner is also beneficial 
to the lungs, as it demands the full expansion 
of the chest, a deep inspiration, a powerful ex- 
pulsion of the breath, and the practice of fre- 
quent pausing and renewing the supply of 
breath, without which a forcible whisper cannot 
be sustained. 



92 Elocution Glass. 

Exercise. 

Give " The Bread of St. Jodokus " in " The 
Whisper." 

THE BREAD OF ST. JODOKUS. 

To prove how pure a heart his servant bore, 

One day the Lord to St. Jodokus' door 

Came begging bread in garments worn and poor. 

" Good steward/' spake Jodokus, " give him 

bread." 
" One loaf alone remains/' the steward said, 
" For thee and me, the faithful dog beside." 
"Give!" said the saint; "will not the Lord 

provide ? " 

The steward marked the single loaf with care, 
And cut four pieces, each an equal share. 
Then to the beggar, in no friendly tone: 
" One each for thee and me, the abbot one, 
One for the dog, since I can but obey." 
Jodokus smiled; the beggar went his way. 

Not long, and in yet wretcheder disguise, 
Once more the Lord asked bread with pleading 

eyes. 
*' Give him my piece," Jodokus gently said; 
" The Lord provides." The steward gave the 

bread. 



The Whisper. 93 

Again the Lord beside the threshold stood, 
And, faint with hunger, begged a little food. 
" Give him thy portion/' thus Jodokus said; 
" The Lord provides." The steward gave the 
bread. 

A little while, and naked, blind, and lame, 
The fourth time came the Lord, and begged 

the same. 
" Give the dog's piece/' the holy man replied; 
"The Lord who feeds the ravens will provide." 

The steward gave. The beggar left the gate, 
And a voice cried aloud, " Thy faith is great! 
Thy Lord hath proved His servant's loyalty — 
As thou hast trusted, be it done to thee ! " 

The steward looked, and in the tranquil bay, 
Behold ! four laden ships at anchor lay. 
Far up their sides the water's dimpling line 
Broke round their holds well stored with bread 
and wine. 

Joyful the steward hastened to the strand, 
And saw no man upon the vessel stand; 
But on the shore a snow-white banner waved, 
Whereon in golden lines these words were 
graved : 

" Four ships He sends who doth the ravens feed, 
To him who hath four times supplied His need. 



94 Elocution Class. 

One for the abbot, thus the lists begin; 
The steward and the dog like portions win, 
The fourth is for the sender's needy kin! " 



SUSPENSIVE QUANTITY. 

Prolonging the end of a word, without an 
actual pause, is called "suspensive quantity/' 

In the following example for practice it is 
marked thus ( — ). The short pause is marked 
thus ( | ), while longer ones are marked thus ( II ). 

WASHINGTON. 

It matters very little | what immediate spot | 
may have been the birthplace of such a man 
as Washington. No people | can claim || no 
country | can appropriate him. The boon of 
Providence to the human race | his fame | is 
eternity || and his dwelling-place creation. 
Though it was the defeat | of our arms | and 
the disgrace | of our policy || I almost bless the 
convulsion | in which he had his origin. If the 
heavens thundered | and the earth rocked || 
yet | when the storm passed | how pure was the 
climate | that it cleared || how bright | in the 
brow of the firmament | was the planet | which 
it revealed to us! 

In the production of Washington | it does 
really appear | as if nature | were endeavoring 



Susj e isive Quant Oo 

to improve upon herself || and that all the vir- 
tues of the ancient world were but so many 
studies ' preparatory to the patriot 
Individual instances no doubt there \ 
splendid exemplifications \ of some single qual- 
ification. Caesar ' was merciful . Scipio was 
continent Hannibal was patient. But j it 
was reserved for Washington to blend them 
all in one a::d like the lovely n; :e of 

the Grecian artist | to exhibit , in one glow of 

utv ' the pride of every m 
and the tion of every master. As a 

general || he marshalled the peasant into a 
veteran and ; upline the 

;f experience. As a statesman he 
enlarged the poli ; rinet intc the 

most comprehensive system of general ad- 
tage. And such was the wisdom of hia 
views and the philosophy of his counsels ,; 
that ' to the soldier j and the statesman he 
almost added | the character of the sage. 

A conqueror he was untainted with the 
crime of blood || a revolutionist lie was 
from anv stain of treason for aggression com- 

.. ! E _ 

menced the contest ; and his country called 
him to the field. Liberty ' unsheathed his 
sword j| necessity stained j| victory | returned 
it. 



96 Elocution Class. 

If he bad paused here | history might have 
doubted | what station to assign him || whether 
at the head of her citizens | or her soldiers || 
her heroes | or her patriots. But the last 
glorious act j crowns his career | and banishes 
all hesitation. Who | like Washington | after 
having emancipated a hemisphere | resigned | 
its crown || and preferred the retirement of 
domestic life | to the adoration of a land | he 
might almost be said to have created ? 

How shall we rank thee | upon glory's page, 
Thou more than soldier | and just less than 

sage ! 
All thou hast been | reflects less praise | on thee, 
Far less I than all thou hast forborn to be. 



TIME OR RATE. 

Is time a property of the voice ? 

Although time or duration is frequently 
spoken of in books of elocution as a property 
of the voice, it simply relates to its continuance 
for a longer or shorter period. 

Upon what must the rate of utterance 
depend ? 

The rate of utterance must depend upon the 
feeling, sentiment, or thought to be expressed. 



Time or Rate. 97 

For practice in elocution we have : quick time, 
very quick time, moderate time, slow time, and 
very slow time. 

Example of Moderate and Sloiv Time, 

(The king's part is an example of "moderate time," 
while the priest's role takes "slow time.") 

THE KING'S CHRISTMAS. 

With an hundred yarls at least 
Held King Orm his Yule-tide feast, 

Drinking merrily; 
Foamed the ale; the din of revels 
Sounded down the long sand levels 

Of the wild North Sea. 

Berserks chanted runes and rhymes; 
Sagas of the elder times, 

Deeds of force and might, 
Mixed with hymns to martyrs glorious 
And the white Christ, the victorious, 

Born a babe to-night. 

Midnight came, and like a spell 
On the hall a silence fell — 

Hushed the Berserk's tale; 
Only the deep ocean thunder, 
And the pine groves rent asunder 

By the Norland gale. 



98 Elocution Class. 

In that silence of the feast 

Eose a white-haired Christian priest, 

Spoke with accents mild : 
" Will not each some offering proffer, 
Each some birth-night present offer 

To the new-born Child ? " 

Up there started Svend the bold, 
Eed his shaggy locks as gold, 

Black as night his eye; 
" Lands of Norden fields twice twenty 
Miles, where firs grow tall and plenty, 

To the Church give I." 

Kunald'next; where sailed his crew 
Sea-wolves swam and eagles flew, 

Watching for the slain. 
6i Gold I give — doubloons an hundred, 
Last year in Sevilla plundered, 

When we ravaged Spain." 
Thus they shouted, each and all, 
Through the long, low-raftered hall 

Each his gift proclaimed. 
Then again the hush unbroken, 
Eor the king had not yet spoken, 

Nor his offering named. 
In a sweet and gentle tone 
Brave King Orm spoke from his throne: 
" What befits the king ? 



Time or Rate. 99 

Christian priest, I pray thee tell me, 
That no other may excel me 

In the gift I bring." 
In the silence of the feast 
. Spoke again the white-haired priest, 

'Mid the listening throng: 
" Pardon grant, king, and pity 
To all men in field or city 

Who have done thee wrong. 
" Who so pardoneth his foes 
On his Lord a gift bestows 

More than lands and sea. 
Such a gift — it cometh solely 
From a heart that's royal wholly 

With heaven's royalty." 

" Be it so," the king replied, 

" All men, from this Christmas-tide, 

Brothers do I call." 
Through the hall all heads bowed loyal: 
" King, thy gift has proved thee royal; 

Thou surpassest all ! " 

That sweet Yule-tide gift went forth, 
Bearing through the rugged North 

Blessings far and wide. 
Men grew gentler to each other 
And each called his neighbor brother 

From that Christmas-tide. 



100 Elocution Class. 

Very Slow Time. 
BREAK, BREAK, BREAK— TENNYSON 

Break, break, break, 

On thy cold gray stones, Sea! 
And I would that my tongue could utter 

The thoughts that arise in me. 

well for the fisherman's boy, 

That he shouts with his sister at play! 

well for the sailor lad, 

That he sings in his boat on the bay! 

And the stately ships go on 

To their haven under the hill; 
But for the touch of a vanished hand, 

And the sound of a voice that is still ! 

Break, break, break, 

At the foot of thy crags, Sea! 
But the tender grace of a day that is dead 

Will never come back to me. 

Quick Time. 

(The second and seventh stanzas are examples of 
41 quick time.") 

LOCHINVAR.-LADY HERON'S SONG. 

O, young Lochinvar is come out of the West, 
Through all the wide Border his steed was the 
best; 



Time or Rate. 101 

And save his good broadsword he weapon had 
none; 

He rode all unarmed, and he rode all alone. 

So faithful in love and so dauntless in war, 

There never was knight like the young Loch- 
invar. 

He stayed not for brake, and he stopped not 

for stone, 
He swam the Esk Eiver, where ford there was 

none; 
But, ere he alighted at Netherby gate 
The bride had consented — the gallant came late; 
For a laggard in love and a dastard in war 
Was to wed the fair Ellen of brave Lochinvar. 

So boldly he entered the ISTetherby hall, 
Among bridesmen, and kinsmen, and brothers, 

and all; 
Then spoke the bride's father, his hand on his 

sword 
(For the poor craven bridegroom spoke never a 

word), 
" 0, come ye in peace here, or come ye in war, 
Or to dance at our bridal, young Lord Loch- 
invar ? " 

" I long wooed your daughter — my suit you de- 
nied ; 



102 Elocution Class. 

Love swells like the Solway, but ebbs like its 

tide; 
And now I am come, with this lost love of mine 
To lead but one measure, drink one cup of 

wine. 
There be maidens in Scotland, more lovely by far, 
That would gladly be bride to the young Loch- 
invar." 

The bride kissed the goblet, the knight took it up ; 

He quaffed off the wine, and he threw down 
the cup. 

She looked down to blush, and she looked up 
to sigh, 

With a smile on her lips and a tear in her eye. 

He took her soft hand ere her mother could 
bar, — 

46 Now tread we a measure ! " said young Loch- 
invar. 

So stately his form, and so lovely her face, 
That never a hall such a galliard did grace; 
While her mother did fret and her father did 

fume, 
And the bridegroom stood dangling his bonnet 

and plume; 
And the bride-maidens whispered, "T'were 

better by far 



Time or Bate. 103 

To have matched our fair cousin with young 

Lochinvar," 
One touch to her hand, and one word in her ear, 
When they reached the hall-door, and the 

charger stood near — 
So light to the croup the fair lady he swung, 
So light to the saddle before her he sprung ! 
" She is won ! we are gone, over bank, bush, 

and scaur! 
They'll have fleet steeds that follow," quoth 

young Lochinvar. 
There was mounting 'mong Graemes of the 

Netherby clan — 
Fosters, Fenwicks, and Musgraves, they rode 

and they ran : 
There was racing and chasing on Cannobie Lea; 
But the lost bride of Netherby ne'er did they 

see. 
So daring in love and so dauntless in war, 
Have ye heard of gallant like the young Loch- 
invar ? 

Very Quick Time. 

(The portion of the following piece which is in italics 
is an example of "very quick time." The verses are 
taken from Tennyson's " The Princess.") 

Home they brought her warrior dead: 
She nor swoon'd nor utter'd cry: 



104 Elocution Class. 

.All her maidens, watching, said, 
" She must weep, or she will die." 

Then they praised him, soft and low; 

Called him worthy to be loved, 
Truest friend and noblest foe: 

Yet she neither spoke nor moved. 

Stole a maiden from her place, 
Lightly to the warrior stept, . 

Took the face-cloth from the face — 
Yet she neither moved nor wept. 

Eose a nurse of ninety years, 
Set his child upon her knee — 

Like summer tempest came her tears — 
" Siveet my child, I live for thee" 



STRESS. 



Is stress a property of the voice ? 

No; but, like time, always accompanying it. 

Stress is the manner in which force is ap- 
plied. Six sorts of stress are usually given: 
the radical, terminal, compound, median, thor- 
ough, and tremor. 

Describe each stress and its use. 

In the radical stress the force is applie.d. at 



Stress. 105 

the beginning of the sound, and it is used to 
express positive conviction. 

In the terminal stress the force is at the 
end, and it is used to express scorn, defiance, 
and revenge. 

The compound stress is simply the radical 
and terminal united. It is used to express a 
mingling of emotions. 

In the median stress there is a gradual in- 
crease of force and as gradual a diminishing of 
it. It is used in poetic expression. 

In the thorough stress the force is sus- 
tained. It is used in calling and proclaiming. 

The tremor is a trembling of the voice. It 
is used to express extreme emotion, of whatever 
nature. 

Exercise. 

[We give the following model, used by us 
most successfully, and taken from Murdochs 
"Vocal Culture." Eepeat each exercise six 
times in succession with constantly increasing 
force.] 

" Kadical stress," > All; 

"Vanishing or terminal stress," < All; 

" Median stress," < > All; 

" Compound stress," D> < All; 

" Thorough stress," = All ; 

" Tremor," All. 



106 Elocution Class. 

Give radical stress on the sound of a in the 
word all in the following example : 
> "Attend* all!" 

Give terminal stress on the word all in the 
following example : 

< "I said all — not one or two." 

Give median stress on the word all in the 
following example : 

< > " Join all ye creatures in His praise." 
Give compound stress on all in the follow- 
ing example : 

D>< " What! All ? Did they all fail ?" 

Give thorough stress on the word all in the 
following example : 

: " Come one — come all!" 

Give the tremor on the word all in the fol- 
lowing example: 
" Oh ! I have lost you all ! " 



INFLECTIONS. 

" Slides " or inflections are simply variations 
in pitch. 

The simple slides are two — the rising, marked 
/, and the falling, marked \. 

Explain the mechanism of these slides. 

" Each inflection has an opening force and 



Inflections. 107 

fulness, from which it tapers softly to its acute 
or grave termination. The more emphatic an 
inflection is, the lower it begins when it is 
called rising, and the higher it begins when it 
is named falling " (Bell.) 

Exercises on Rising and Falling Slides. 

1. I come to bijf Caesar, not to ^^ e him. 

[The pupil must remember that an intense 
rising slide is given* by taking a lower pitch 

and then rising, and an intense falling slide is 
executed by taking a higher pitch and then 
descending.] 

/ 

2. Indeed — is it ? 

/ 

Indeed — can it be ? 

Indeed — it is. 

\ 
Indeed — it must be, 

3. Ham. Will you play upon this pipe ? 
Guild. My lord, I cannot. 

Ham. I pray you. 

Guild. Believe me, I cannot. 

/ / 
Ham. I do beseech you. 

\ . ^ 

Guild. I know no touch of it, my lord. 



108 Elocution Glass. 

[The pupil must practise vowels, words, and 
phrases with rising and falling slides until he 
has gained control of these fundamental move- 
ments of the voice.] 

In sadness, grief, or suffering the slides be- 
come semi-tonic or minor. They may be either 
rising or falling. 

Exercise on Minor Slides. 
Oh, my lord, 

Must I then leave you ? Must I needs forego 

/ / / / 

So good, so noble, and so true a master ? 

save me, Hubert, save me! My eyes are out 

Even with the fierce looks of these bloody men. 

The simple slides united form the circum- 
flexes or waves. They are named rising or 
falling as their termination turns upwards or 
downwards. 

Eising circumflex, V. 

Falling circumflex, A. 

The rising slides indicate doubt, indifference, 
appeal, or connect with what has been said. 

The falling slides express certainty, com- 
pleteness, and the will of the speaker. 

The circumflex slides are used in irony, 
double meaning, and figurative language. 



Inflections. 109 

Exercise on Rising and Falling Circumflexes. 

V A " A 

If you said so, then I said so. Oho! did 
v 
you say so ? So they shook hands and were 

sworn brothers. 

["Delivery is a kind of music whose excel- 
lence consists in a variety of tones which rise 
or fall according to the things they have to 
express. The voice rises in doubt ( ' ), it falls 
in certainty ( v ), and it neither rises nor falls 
in hesitation ( — )" — Delaumosne.] 

In the following exercise the important 
changes of pitch or slides are marked. 

MONA'S WATERS. 
Oh! Mona's waters are blue and bright 

When the sun shines out like a gay young 
lover; 
But Monads waves are dark as night 

When the face of heaven is clouded over. 
The wild wind drives the crested foam 

Far up the steep and rocky mountain, 
And booming echoes drown the voice, 

The silvery voice, of Monads fountain. 

Wild, wild against that mountain's side 
The wrathful waves were up and beating, 

When stern Glenvarloch's chieftain came, 
With anxious brow and hurried greeting. 



110 Elocution Class. 

He bade the widowed mother send 

(While loud the tempest's voice was raging) 

Her fair young son across the flood, 

Where winds and waves their strife were 
waging. 

And still that fearful mother prayed, 

" Oh! yet delay, delay till morning, 
For weak the hand that guides our bark, 

Though brave his heart, all danger scorning." 
Little did stern Glenvarloch heed: 

The safety of my fortress tower 
Depends on tidings he must bring 

From Fairlee bank, within the hour. 

" See'st thou, across the sullen wave, 

A blood-red banner wildly streaming ? 
That flag a message brings to me 

Of which my foes are little dreaming. 
The boy must put his boat across 

(Gold shall repay his hour of danger), 
And bring me back, with care and speed, 

Three letters from the light-browed str&nger." 

The orphan boy leaped lightly in; 

Bold was his eye and brow of beauty, 
And bright his smile as thus he spoke: 

" I do but pay a vassal's duty. 



Inflections. Ill 

Fear not for me, mother dear! 

See how the boat the tide is spurning; 
The storm will cease, the sky will clear, 

And thou wilt watch me safe returning." 

His bark shot on, now up, now down, 

Over the waves — the snowy-crested; 
Now like a dart it sped along, 

Now like a white-winged sea-bird rested; 
And ever, when the wind sank low, 

Smote on the ear that woman's wailing, 
As long she watched, with streaming eyes, 

That fragile bark's uncertain sailing. 

He reached the shore — the letters claimed; 

Triumphant, heard the stranger's wonder 
That one so young should brave alone 

The heaving lake, the rolling thunder. 
And once again his snowy sail 

Was seen by her — that mourning mother; 
And once she heard his shouting voice — 

That voice the waves were soon to smother. 

Wild burst the wind, wide flapped the sail, 
A crashing peal of thunder followed; 

The gust swept o'er the water's face 
And caverns in the deep lake hollowed. 



112 Elocution Class. 

The gust swept past, the waves grew calm, 
The thunder died along the mountain; 

But where was he who used to play, 
On sunny days, by Mona's fountain ? 

His cold corpse floated to the shore 

Where knelt his lone and shrieking mother; 
And bitterly she wept for him, 

The widow's son who had no brother! 
She raised his arm— the hand was closed; 

With pain his stiffened fingers parted : 
And on the sand three letters dropped! — 

His last dim thought — the faithful-hearted. 

Glenvarloch gazed, and on his brow 

Kemorse with pain and grief seemed blend- 
ing; 
A purse of gold he flung beside 

That mother, o'er her dead child bending. 
Oh! wildly laughed that woman then, 

" Glenvarloch! would ye dare to measure 
The holy life that God has given 

Against a heap of golden treasure ? 

" Ye spurned my prayer, for we were poor; 

But know, proud man, that God hath power 
To smite the king on Scotland's throne, 

The chieftain in his fortress tower. 



Inflections. 113 

Frown on! frown on! I fear ye not; 

We've done the last of chieftain's bidding; 
And cold he lies, for w T hose young sake 

I used to bear your wrathful chiding. 

" Will gold bring back his cheerful voice 

That used to win my heart from sorrow ? 
Will silver warm the frozen blood, 

Or make my heart less lone to-morrow ? 
Go back and seek your mountain home; 

And when ye kiss your fair-haired daughter, 
Eemember him who died to-night 

Beneath the waves of Mona's water." 

Old years rolled on and new ones came — 

Foes dare not brave Glenvarloch's tower; 
But naught could bar the sickness out 

That stole within fair Annie's bower. 
The o'erblown floweret in the sun 

Sinks languid down and withers daily, 
And so she sank — her voice grew faint, 

Her laugh no longer sounded gaily. 

Her step fell on the old oak floor 

As noiseless as the snow-shower's drifting; 

And from her sweet and serious eyes 
They seldom saw the dark lid lifting. 



114 Elocution Class. 

" Bring aid! Bring aid!" the father cries; 

" Bring aid! " each vassal's voice is crying; 
" The fair-haired beauty of the isles, 

Her pulse is faint — her life is flying!" 

He called in vain; her dim eyes turned 

And met his own with parting sorrow, 
For well she knew, that fading girl, 

That he must weep and wail the morrow. 
Her faint breath ceased; the father bent 

And gazed upon his fair-haired daughter. 
What thought he on ? — The widow's son, 

And the stormy night by Mona's water. 



PKOJECTION OF TONE, OE 
DISTANCING. 

What is meant by "projection of tone," or 
distancing ? 

Throwing the voice to a distance, as one 
would throw a ball from the hand, is called 
" distancing," and is a very important part of 
vocal technique. 

How is it accomplished ? 

One should open the throat and nostrils, as if 
about to gape, Take breath, hold it, and then 
throw the voice to the required distance. 

Are only loud tones projected ? 



Projection of Tone, or Distancing. 115 

On the contrary, the gentlest tones may be 
projected — indeed, in practising "distancing" 
we recommend beginning with the gentlest 
tones. 

Give the following exercise with "gentle 
force/' but projecting the tones to a person at 
a distance. 

EACH AND ALL.—EMEBSON. 
Little thinks, in the field, yon red-cloaked 

clown, 
Of thee from the hill-top looking down; 
The heifer that lows in the upland farm, 
Far-heard, lows not thine ear to charm; 
The sexton, tolling his bell at noon, 
Deems not that great Xapoleon 
Stops his horse and lists with delight, 
While his files sweep round yon Alpine height; 
Nor knowest thou what argument 
Thy life to thy neighbor's creed has lent. 

All are needed by each one; 

Nothing is fair or good alone. 

I thought the sparrow's note from heaven, 

Singing at dawn on the alder bough; 

I brought him home, in his nest, at even; 

He sings the song, but it pleases not now, 

For I did not bring home the river and sky; — 

He sang to my ear — they sang to my eye. 



116 Elocution Class. 

The delicate shells lay on the shore; 
The bubbles of the latest wave 
Fresh pearls to their enamel gave, 
And the bellowing of the savage sea 
Greeted their safe escape to me. 

I wiped away the weeds and foam, 
I fetched my sea-born treasure home; 
But the poor, unsightly, noisome things 
Had left their beauty on the shore 
With the sun, and the sand, and the wild up- 
roar. 

The lover watched his graceful maid 

As 'mid the virgin train she strayed ; 

Nor knew her beauty's best attire 

Was woven still by the snow-white choir. 

At last she came to his heritage, 

Like the bird from the woodlands to the cage. — 

The gay enchantment was undone — 

A gentle wife, but fairy none. 

Then I said, " I covet truth ; 

Beauty is unripe childhood's cheat; 

I leave it behind with the games of youth. " 

As I spoke, beneath my feet 

The ground-pine curled its pretty wreath, 

Eunning over the club-moss burrs; 

I inhaled the violet's breath; 






Projection of Tone, or Distancing. 117 

Around me stood the oaks and firs; 
Pine-cones and acorns lay on the ground; 
Over me soared the eternal sky, 
Full of light and of deity. 

Again I saw, again I heard 

The rolling river, the morning bird — 

Beauty through my senses stole; 

I yielded myself to the perfect whole. 

Give the same selection as if reciting it solely 
for the benefit of a person close beside the 
speaker. 

[The student will thus understand the differ- 
ence existing between a projected tone and one 
that is not projected.] 

[Miss Anna Dickinson was once asked how 
she was able to make herself heard in every 
part of Music Hall, Boston, which seats nearly 
three thousand people. 

Opposite the platform whereon stands the 
speaker is the figure of Apollo. It is high 
above the audience and at the greatest distance 
from the speaker. Miss Dickinson made her- 
self audible to all in the hall by projecting her 
tones to Apollo. She herself thus describes 
her method of "distancing." " When I come 
onto the platform, and find myself facing the 



118 Elocution Class. 

great audience, I make a full pause, then take a 
good ready, and speak to Apollo."] 



GESTTIKE. 

What is gesture ? 

Gesture is usually defined as the various post- 
ures and movements of the body. 

Delsarte says: "Gesture is the manifestation 
of the being through the activities of the body." 

[Delsarte's definition of gesture is the best 
that has yet been given.] 

["Speech is inferior to gesture, because it 
corresponds to the phenomena of mind; gesture 
is the agent of the heart, it is the persuasive 
agent." — Delaumosne.] 

Gestures either express some state of the 
being or refer to objects, real or imagined. 

Upon what law must all laws for gesture 
rest ? 

Upon the law of correspondence. Delsarte 
founded his system upon this great principle, 
which commands that every expression of the 
face, movement of the body — in a word, every 
outward manifestation — must correspond to and 
be in harmony with the emotion, sentiment, or 
idea to be expressed. 

[Shakespeare's " Suit the action to the word, 






Gesture. 119 

and the word to the action," commands this 
outward correspondence to inner conditions 
which Delsarte^s law enforces.] 

Did Delsarte give other laws for gesture ? 

The following six laws are attributed to Del- 
sarte by M. FAbbe Delaumosne in his " Prac- 
tique de VArt Oratoire cle Delsarte" pub- 
lished in Paris in 1874: Priority, Ketroaction, 
Opposition of Agents, Unity, Stability, and 
Khythm. 

PRIORITY. 

What does the law of priority command ? 

The law of priority or sequence commands 
that gesture precede speech, and that the gest- 
ures of the face precede all others. 

Delsarte gives the law in these words: "Let 
your attitude, gesture, and face foretell what 
you would make felt." 

What does the word sequence signify ? 

An order of succession. 

What is the law of priority sometimes called ? 

The law of succession. 

Why? 

Because all emotion must be expressed by 
the movement of organs in obedience to the 
law in this way: The expression must begin 
at the eye, then spread over the face to the 
shoulder, and then over the whole body like a 



120 Elocution Class. 

wave, using each articulation of the body as it 
moves downward. 

What does this law command applied to the 
face ? 

It commands this order of succession: First 
the eye, second the brow, and then the nostrils 
and the mouth. 

What does it command applied to the arm ? 

First the upper part of the arm, then the 
fore-arm, and last the hand. 

RETROACTION. 

What do we learn from this law ? 

That the speaker makes a backward or for- 
ward movement as he is passive or active. 

Explain this law more fully. 

When the speaker communicates his own 
will or power, he is agent and advances. 

When he reflects he makes a backward move- 
ment. 

" In the joy of seeing a friend again, as also 
in fright, we start back from the object loved 
or hated." 

" The degree of reaction will be in proportion 
to the emotion caused by the sight of the 
object." 

[" The passive attitude is that of energetic 
natures. They have something in themselves 



Gesture. 121 

which suffices them. This is a sort of repose; 
it is elasticity."] 

Is this law obeyed by all persons ? 

It is observed by all, according to their degree 
of cultivation or natural refinement. Delsarte 
says : " Motion generally has its reaction ; a pro- 
jected body rebounds, and it is this rebound 
which we call the reaction of the motion." 

Rebounding bodies are agreeable to the eye. 
Lack of elasticity in a body is disagreeable, 
from the fact that, lacking suppleness, it seems 
as if it must, in falling, be broken, flattened, or 
injured; in a word, must lose something of the 
integrality of its form. It is therefore the re- 
action of a body which proves its elasticity, and 
which, by this very quality, gives us a sort of 
pleasure in witnessing a fall, which apart from 
this reaction could not be other than disagreea- 
ble. Therefore, elasticity of dynamic motions 
is a prime necessity from the point of view of 
charm. In the vulgar man there is no reaction. 
In the man of distinction, on the contrary, mo- 
tion is of slight extent and reaction is enor- 
mous. Eeaction is both slow and rapid. 

OPPOSITION OF AGEKTS. 

Eepeat this law. 

" When two limbs follow the same direction 



122 Elocution Class. 

they cannot be simultaneous without an injury 
to the law of opposition. Therefore direct 
movements should be successive and opposite 
movements simultaneous." 

[This law is sometimes called the law of 
equilibrium, because it commands the opposi- 
tion of the agents in action, that equilibrium 
may result. 

Charles Wesley Emerson, in his "Physical 
Culture," gives testimony to the worth of this 
law, saying : " It is manifested in every person, 
in the ratio of the grace of his movements. In 
the awkward person this law is violated, and 
the violation is the secret of his awkwardness."] 

Is this a valuable law ? 

We consider it one of the most valuable of 
the many laws attributed to Delsarte. 

[It is affirmed by Madame Arnaud that Del- 
sarte had studied the poses of the statues of 
antiquity for fifteen years before he formulated 
this law.] 

THE LAW OF UKITY. 

This law relates to the number of gestures. 

But one gesture is needed for one entire 
thought. In impersonating we would say that 
the number and also the kind of gestures would 
depend upon the character depicted. The law 



Gesture. 123 

of unity commands a strict correspondence in 
this regard. 

THE LAW OF STABILITY. 

This law teaches that, while the speaker is 
under the influence of the same sentiment the 
same inflection and gesture must be maintained ; 
that the prolongation of movement is one of 
the great sources of effect. 

[Very young orators rarely observe the law of 
stability — hence their ineffectiveness.] 

THE LAW OF KHYTHM. 

Gesture is " rhythmic " through its move- 
ment, more or less slow or more or less rapid. 

How does Delsarte state this law? 

" The rhythm of gesture is proportional to 
the mass to be moved." 

This law is based upon the vibration of the 
pendulum. 

Great levers have slow movements, small 
agents more rapid ones. The head moves more 
rapidly than the torso, and the eye has great 
facility of motion. " In proportion to the 
depth and majesty of the emotion is the delib- 
eration and slowness of the motion; and, vice 
versa, in proportion to the superficiality and 
explosiveness of the emotion will be the veloc- 
ity of its expression in motion." 



124 



Elocution Class. 



[Gesture is melodic or inflective through the 
richness of its forms; harmonic through the 
multiplicity of parts that unite simultaneously 
to produce it.] 

delaumosne's nine attitudes of the legs. 

These attitudes should be practised well, as 

pupils rarely have the necessary ease in chang- 





1. Respect. 2. Strength. 

ing the positions of the feet; and yet upon the 
attitude of the legs depends the graceful ex- 
pression of the rest of the form. 

1. Heels nearly together, toes pointing slightly 
outward, with the weight of the body resting 
equally upon the feet. This is the attitude of 
respect. It characterizes old age and infancy. 

2. In this attitude the free leg is advanced 
and the weight of the body rests upon the 



Gesture. 



125 




5. Passive. 



6. Ceremony. 



126 



Elocution Class. 



backward leg. This attitude signifies calm, 

strength, re- 
flection. 

3. Here all 
the weight of 
the body is on 
the advanced 
foot. The 
backward leg 
is extended in 
proportion to 
the advance- 
This attitude signifies 





7. Intoxication. 



ment of the torso 
vehemence. 

4. This attitude is assumed by carrying all 
the weight of the 
body backward 
and by bending 
the leg which 
bears the weight 
of the body. It 
expresses the 
weakness which 
follows vehe- 
mence. Natural 
weakness is ex- 
pressed by the first attitude, and sudden weak- 
ness by the fourth attitude. 




Hesitation. 



Gesture. 



127 




9. Defiance. 



5. This is necessitated by the inclination of 
the torso to one side or the other. It is a pas- 
sive attitude pre- 
paratory to all 
oblique steps. 

6. This atti- 
tude is the third, 
crossed. It is an 
attitude of great 
respect and cere- 
mony, and is used 
only in the pres- 
ence of princes. 

7. Here the 
weight of the body is distributed equally upon 
the feet, which are wide apart. It is the sign 
of vulgar confidence, of drunkenness, and of the 
weak who wish to appear strong. 

8. The eighth attitude is the second, with 
the feet farther apart. It is the sign of hesita- 
tion. The weight of the body rests equally 
upon the feet. 

9. This attitude is an extended second. The 
principal weight is on the backward leg. It ex- 
presses defiance. 

THE TOKSO. 

The torso or trunk is divided into three gen- 
eral divisions. The chest or upper portion 



128 Elocution Class 

corresponds to grand emotions; the middle, to 
the affections, and the abdominal region, to 
the animal propensities. Gestures directed to 
or from the chest express the higher emotions, 
such as love of God, honor, hope, etc.; those 
from the middle of the torso, earthly affections; 
and those from the abdominal region, animal 
propensities. The last are vulgar, and, there- 
fore, to be avoided. 

The torso expands, contracts, or relaxes in cor- 
respondence with the emotion one is depicting. 

The leaning of the torso to or from an object 
expresses attraction or repulsion. 

What portion of the torso should be most 
prominent in our bearing ? 

The upper portion of the torso, being the 
nobler, should be most prominent in our bearing. 

How should the shoulders be held ? 

If the chest be held high, the shoulders will 
naturally fall backward and downward. " Take 
care of the chest and the shoulders will take 
care of themselves." 

[All the best Greek statues present the human 
form standing with the chest on a vertical line 
with the toe.] 

THE HAND. 

[Delsarte was the first to apply the three kinds 
of motion — centrifugal, centripetal, and centred 



Gesture. 129 

— to human expression. To express these three 
kinds of motion, he invented the terms excen- 
tric, concentric, and normal. 

By excentric, he means motions from the 
centre; by concentric, motions to the centre; and ' 
by normal, motions held in poise or balance.] 

The hands when they open without effort 
are said to be in the normal state. 

When they close they are concentric. 

When they open with force they present the 
excentric state. 

["Every one knows that with the hands we 
can demand or promise, call, dismiss, threaten, 
supplicate, ask, deny, show joy, sorrow, detesta- 
tion, fear, confession, penitence, admonition, 
respect, and many other things now in common 
use." — Sheridan.] 

Next to the face the hand is the most ex- 
pressive of the agents. 

The hand has three presentations: 

The palm prone, supine, and vertical. 

" The natural language of the prone palm is 
repression; of the supine, releasing or giving; 
of the vertical, repelling." 

The hands applied — that is, the palms to- 
gether — express the prayer of innocence. 

The clasped hands are employed to suppli- 
cate ; they are also used to express distress. 



130 Elocution Class. 

The folded hands — that is, the fingers of the 
right hand laid between the thumb and fore- 
finger of the left, the right thumb crossing the 
left — express humility, dolor, and prayer. 

DELATJMOSNE'S NIKE ATTITUDES OF THE HAND. 

1. This is the normal hand. It signifies 
repose, indifference. 

2. This is the first attitude, with the fingers 
slightly extended. It signifies warmth, expan- 
sion. 

3. In this attitude the hand is completely 
relaxed. The fingers hang lifeless, thumb falls 
in toward palm. It signifies prostration. 

4. In this attitude the fingers close with the 
thumb resting on the index finger. It signifies 
calm, power, possession. 

5. In this attitude the fingers are closed, the 
thumb outside the index and middle fingers. 
It signifies conflict. 

6. In this attitude the fingers are bent, at 
the first joint, toward the palm. It signifies 
convulsion. 

7. In this attitude the fingers are expanded, 
but not excessively. It signifies exaltation. 

j 8. In this attitude the fingers are bent to- 
ward the palm, but separated as much as possi- 
ble. It signifies execration. 



Gesture. 




Convulsion. 




4. Power. 



131 




5. Conflict. 




2. Expansion. 




1. Indifference. 




3. Prostration. 




9. Exasperation. 




7. Exaltation. 




8. Execration. 



132 Elocution Class. 

9. In this attitude the hand is open to its 
full extent, with the fingers as far apart as 
possible. It signifies exasperation. 

THE ELBOW. 

The elbow turned outward indicates strength, 
audacity, arrogance, abruptness. The elbow 
turned inward indicates impotence, constraint, 
subordination, weakness. 

The elbow in poise or normal indicates ease, 
self-possession, calmness, an equable temper. 

THE SHOULDER. 

Delsarte affirmed the shoulder to be the 
thermometer of the sensitive and passional life. 
" If a man's shoulders are raised very decidedly, 
we know that he is decidedly impressed." 

Every agreeable or painful emotion is ex- 
pressed by an elevation of the shoulders. The 
face will tell whether the impression be joyous 
or sorrowful. 

How many things may be said or insinuated 
by a shrug of the shoulders! 

THE ARMS. 

The arms hanging easily from the shoulder 
signify calm repose. Arms folded easily above 
the belt line express power. 



Gesture. 133 

The arm raised above the head with lack of 
the hand exposed signifies supreme power. 

Arms extended sidewise, with palms toward 
the audience, express welcome. The arms 
hanging in a lifeless manner express depression, 
dejection. 

THE HEAD. 

The upper part of the head corresponds to 
the upper part of the torso, and expresses the 
noble emotions, but in a higher degree. The 
eye leads in expression, in so much as it indicates 
objects. " The upper part of the face down to 
the root of the nose is the seat of thought; it is 
the region where our projects and resolutions 
are formed. It is the office of the middle and 
lower parts to unfold them/ 5 — (Brown.) 

XIXE ATTITUDES OF THE HEAD. 

1. The head held easily erect signifies calm 
repose. It is a colorless attitude. 

2. The head lifted signifies vehemence. 

3. The head bowed, concentration of mind; 
reflection. 

4. The head advanced, interest, curiosity, 
eagerness. 

5. The head leaning toward an object ex- 
presses tenderness. 



134 Elocution Class. 

The head drawn back from an object ex- 
presses dislike. 

6. The head slightly bowed directly before an 
object, with the eyes upon it, expresses scrutiny. 

7. The head advanced toward a person or 
object and bowed signifies trust, veneration. 

8. The head bowed and drawn back from an 
object which the eyes gaze upon expresses sus- 
picious scrutiny. 

9. The head lifted, with face turned upward, 
signifies exaltation. 

Negation is expressed by a lateral movement 
of the head from side to side. This movement 
of the head also expresses sadness. 

Affirmation and assent* bend the head for- 
ward. 

THE EYES AND EYEBROWS. . 

Description of Delaumosne's Chart. 

1. This is the normal eye, and is colorless in 
expression. 

2. This is the eye normal — that is, opened 
naturally — with the eyebrow raised. It ex- 
presses disdain. 

3. This is the eye nearly open, with eyebrow 
drawn into a frown. It expresses ill humor. 

4. The eye wide open, with the eyebrow nor- 
mal, expresses stupor. 



Gesture. 



135 




6. Firmness. 





9. Contention of 
mind. 




4. Stupor. 






1. Normal. 





5. Astonishment. 



2. Disdain. 




8. Contempt. 



136 



Elocution Class, 



5. The eye wide open, with the eyebrow 
raised, expresses astonishment. 

6. The eye open, with the eyebrow lowered, 
expresses will-power, firmness. 

7. The eye partly closed, with the eyebrow 
normal, expresses sleep, fatigue. 

8. The eye nearly closed, with the eyebrow 
raised, expresses contempt. 

9. The eye partly closed, with the eyebrow 
lowered, expresses contention of mind, a seeking 
for something one does not find. 




The above diagram of Delaumosne's repre- 
sents the significance of the direct and oblique 
lines of gesture. 

Gestures made by the hand and arm which 
follow the vertical line express affirmation. 
They are gestures of assent, acceptance, agree- 
ment, certainty. 



Technique of Gesture. 137 

Gestures which follow the horizontal line ex- 
press negation. They are gestures of denial,, 
non-agreement, opposition. 

Gestures which follow the oblique line up- 
wards and outwards express rejection of things 
which one contemns— light and trivial things. 

Gestures which trace the oblique line down- 
wards and outwards express rejection of things- 
which oppress. 

TECHNIQUE OF GESTURE. 

Every gesture has direction, place, and ex- 
tension. 

Direction. — There are five points of direc- 
tion: Horizontal, ascending, zenith, descending,, 
and nadir. 

Place. — There are five points of place : Front,, 
oblique, lateral, oblique backwards, and back- 
wards. 

Extension signifies those movements of the 
hand by which the outline, form, action, or 
some other property of the object is indicated. 

[" It is impossible to give free play in all di- 
rections to the hand and arm without producing 
a series of curved lines. The widest and freest, 
sweep of the instrument describes arcs of circles, 
and these arcs described by both arms project 
the figure of a globe/' — Brown.] 



138 Elocution Class. 

Exercises. 

Eaise the right arm and point to the zenith 
with the forefinger. 

[What is the zenith ? 

That point in the visible celestial hemisphere 
which is vertical to the spectator — the point of 
the heavens directly overhead.] 

Sweep the arm through 180° to the nadir. 

[What is the nadir ? 

That point directly opposite the zenith — the 
point of the celestial sphere directly under the 
place where we stand.] 

Same action with left arm from zenith to nadir. 

The pupil now will have traced the circle of 
a globe. Imagine this globe divided into upper 
and lower hemispheres, as by an equator. In 
technique all gestures above this horizontal line 
are called ascending and all below it are named 
descending. The pupil will now imagine two 
vertical front lines, one a trifle to the right of 
the centre of the circle and the other a trifle 
to the left. Half-way from the centre (mid- 
way between the chest and shoulder) are the 
oblique lines, which are forty-five degrees to the 
right and left of the centre ; and forty-five degrees 
to the right and left of these are the lateral 
lines; and back of these, the same distance apart, 
are the oblique baekivards and backivards. 



Technique of Gesture. 139 

For the convenience of the pupil, we give a 
plan of notation similar to that used in " Aus- 
tin's Chironomia." 

d. i., descending front. 

d. o., descending oblique. 

d. L, descending lateral. 

d. o. b., descending oblique backwards. 

h. i., horizontal front. 

h. o._, horizontal oblique. 

h. \., horizontal lateral. 

h. o. b., horizontal oblique backwards. 

a. L, ascending front. 

a. o.. ascending oblique. 

a. L, ascending lateral. 

a. o. b., ascending oblique backwards, 
r. h., right hand. 

1. h.,left hand. 

b. h., both hands. 
s., supine. 

p., prone. 

v., vertical. 

i. or ind v index finger. 

upl v uplifted. 

par., parallel. 

cli., clinched. 

cla v clasped. 

ap. 5 applied. 

fol., folded. 



140 Elocution Class. 

cro., crossed. 

prep., preparation. 

rep., repeat. 

imp., impulse. 

sus., sustained. 

tr., tremor. 
In notating gestures the s. may be omitted 
from the supine hand, and r. h. from gestures 
to be made with the right hand singly. When 
the position of the hand is not notated, it is un- 
derstood to be supine; and when it is not no- 
tated whether one or both hands are to be used, 
the right hand is understood. 

ME. AUSTINS CLASSIFICATION OF GESTURE. 

The style of gesture used must correspond to 
the style of the composition one is rendering. 

Mr. Austin classes gestures as epic, rhetori- 
cal, and colloquial. 

What styles of compositions require epic 
gesture? 

Tragedy, epic poetry, lyric odes, and sublime 
description. 

What are the qualities of epic gesture ? 

Magnificence, boldness, energy, variety, sim- 
plicity,* grace, propriety, and precision. 

Describe each of these qualities. 

Magnificence of gesture consists in the ample 



Technique of Gesture. 141 

space through which the arm and hand are 
made to move. 

Boldness consists in that elevated courage and 
self-confidence which ventures to hazard any 
action productive of a grand and striking effect. 
(In this sort of gesture unexpected positions, 
elevations, and transitions, surprise at once by 
their novelty and grace, and thus illustrate or 
enforce ideas with irresistible effect.) 

Energy consists in the firmness and decision 
of the whole action, and in the support which 
the voice receives from the precision of the 
stroke of the gesture. 

Variety consists in the ability of readily 
adapting suitable gestures to each sentiment, so 
as to avoid recurring too frequently to favorite 
gestures. 

Simplicity consists in using such gestures as 
appear the natural result of the situation and 
sentiments. 

Grace of gesture consists in the union of pre- 
cision, ease, and harmony. 

Propriety consists in a judicious use of those 
movements which are best suited to the sentiment. 

Precision of gesture arises from the just prep- 
aration, the due force, and the correct timing of 
the action. The preparation is neither too much 
abridged nor too pompously displayed. The 



142 Elocution Class. 

stroke is made with that degree of force which 
suits the character of the sentiment and speaker, 
and occurs on the precise syllable to be enforced. 
Precision gives the same effect to action that 
neatness of articulation gives to speech. 

What are the qualities of rhetorical gesture ? 

Energy, variety, simplicity, and precision. 
Boldness and magnificence may sometimes have 
place. 

What are the qualities of colloquial gesture ? 

Colloquial gestures principally require sim- 
plicity and grace. In colloquial gesture the 
movements are shorter and less flowing, and the 
action is less frequent. 

Exercises on Gesture. 

1. Bring right arm up until the index finger 
of right hand almost touches the left shoulder, 
palm downwards. Now sweep arm outward 
(the side of hand cleaving the air) until the 
fingers point horizontal oblique. 

[Indication with the hand prone is used to 
point out objects at a distance, or, if the object be 
near, to express power, command, displeasure. 

The pupil will be careful to observe the fol- 
lowing order in the making of these full-arm 
movements. First, the upper arm; second, the 
forearm; finally, the hand and fingers.] 



Relaxation. 143 

Same with the left hand, viz. : Place index 
finger almost upon right shoulder, then sweep 
arm outward to left until the index finger points 
horizontal leftvoblique. Eelease force, first from 
hand, then from forearm, and last from upper 
arm, and, the energy having been withdrawn, 
the arm will return gracefully to its place. 

These movements may be practised at differ- 
ent altitudes. 

2. Cross hands in front of chest, palms down- 
ward, then sweep arms outward until the index 
finger of the right hand points "right horizon- 
tal lateral," and the index finger of the left hand 
points "left horizontal lateral." With the in- 
dex finger of the right hand trace the figure 
eight (8), commencing at the top of the figure. 

Same exercise with the left hand. 

[The pupil will remember that when the 
arms are inactive there is an opposition of head 
and torso, but when the arm is used the opposi- 
tion is between the head and arm, while the 
torso leans from the leg which bears the weight 
of the body.] 



KELAXATION. 

[Eelaxation is simply either preparation for 
action or rest after effort. 



144 Elocution Class. 

" Dynamic wealth depends upon the number 
of articulations brought into play/' — Delsarte.] 

If the student is not able to relax at will, or 
should the articulations of the body be stiff, it 
would be well for him to practise the following 
exercises. 

Exercise for the Head. 

Drop the head upon the chest, then, by an 
inclination of the torso, send it to the left, then 
backward, round to right shoulder, and back to 
chest again. 

Exercise for the Arms. 

Lift the forearm a little above the belt line 
in front, and, letting the hand and fingers hang 
in a relaxed and lifeless manner, move the arm 
up and down. The arm will shake the hand 
and fingers. 

Same exercise, moving the forearm from right 
to left. 

With the hand still relaxed, circle the forearm, 
the elbow being the centre of motion. Stretch 
the entire arm front, letting the hand hang life- 
less, and move the arm, without bending the 
elbow, up and down. Practise first with right 
arm, then with left, then with both arms. Allow 
the arms to hang relaxed. Turn "the torso to 
right and left, slinging the arms by this motion. 



Relaxation. 145 

Exercise for the Legs. 
Stand upon a stool and allow the leg to hang 
relaxed from the hip; shake it by swaying the 
body. Practise first right leg and then left. 

Opposition Movements. 

Eotate the torso, at the waist line, to the 
right, while turning the head to the left. 

Turn torso as much as possible to the left 
while the head turns as much as possible to the 
right. 

Raise both arms high above the head while 
the head sinks upon the chest. Raise the head 
to normal position while the arms fall in oppo- 
sition. 

Advance right leg, and at the same time ad- 
vance left arm. Advance right arm and left 
leg simultaneously. 

Kneel on right knee while raising left arm 
toward heaven. 

Kneel on left knee while raising right arm 
toward heaven. 

Cross hands upon chest, at the same time 
bowing head. Extend arms, palms outward, and 
simultaneouslyraise head, clasp hands, and raise 
them to chest, bowing the head toward them. 

Bring right hand up to chest, extend hand, 
palm up as if to take some object. This gest- 



146 Elocution Glass. 

ure may be used for ideas as well as objects. 
It signifies appeal. 

In these sorts of movements the head acts in 
opposition. (But the pupil must remember 
that the movement of the head is very slight 
compared with that of the arm, as the arc in 
which the head moves is so much smaller.) 
The direction of the gesture of appeal will de- 
pend upon the location of the object asked for, 
or the position of the person appealed to. Make 
a gesture of appeal oblique ascending — descend- 
ing — with right hand — with left hand — with 
both hands. 

Parallel Movements. 

Extend both arms horizontal front, move 
both to the right, the right hand leading; 
reverse this movement. Move both arms left, 
left hand leading. 

Let the pupil imagine a person in front to 
vyhom the speaker wishes to show an object sit- 
uated on the ".right oblique ascending." The 
head will first turn front, then toward the .ob- 
ject, as the arm folds toward chest of speaker in 
preparation for gesture. Now, as the head 
turns back to person front, the arm moves out- 
ward and shows object. 

" Parallel movements must be successive, 
opposite gestures simultaneous." 



Bowing, 147 

WALKING. 

To walk well the whole form should be well 
poised. 

The head should be erect, with the chin well 
drawn in, the chest active, and the legs swung 
from the hip-joints. 

In slow walking the ball of the foot touches 
the ground first. 

Ordinarily, however, the heel strikes the 
ground a trifle before the ball of the foot. 

THE PIVOT. 

When one wishes to turn in walking " the 
pivot " should be employed. 

To turn to the left, advance the right foot, 
transfer the weight to it, and, resting the ball 
of the left foot very lightly on the floor, pivot to 
the left. Both heels should just clear the floor. 

To turn to the right, advance the left foot, 
and then transfer the weight of the body to it, 
maintaining the balance of the body by resting 
lightly on the ball of the right foot, pivot to the 
left, the heels of both feet just clearing the floor. 



BOWING. 

The bow is a slight inclination of the body, 
beginning with the head and passing over the 



148 Elocution Class. 

entire form. The courtesy, which is still used 
in the presence of persons of rank, is made by 
placing one foot behind and slowly bending the 
backward knee, the other knee also bending. 
Eise slowly to an erect position and draw the 
forward foot back. Do not bring the backward 
one forward, as it bears the principal weight of 
the body; also because using first one leg and 
then the other is more harmonious. Grace is 
born of contrast. 

These remarks apply only to the bow made 
by females. 

The attitude of respect is the one assumed by 
a boy when about to bow. The heels are nearly 
together and the toes pointed slightly outward. 
The head bends, and the torso is also slightly 
inclined; the torso first returns to an erect 
position, and the head follows. 

[Some persons make three bows — one front, 
one to the right, and one to the left. How- 
ever, the method to be preferred is to glance 
over the entire audience and make but one.] 



KNEELING. 

Place one foot behind and bend the knee 
until it rests upon the ground. In kneeling 
upon a stage or platform the speaker should 



Speech. 149 

sink upon the knee next to the audience. For 
example, if upon the right side of the platform 
the right knee is the one to rest upon; and if 
upon the left side, the left knee should be 
brought to the ground. In sinking to the 
ground incline the torso forward and the head 
backward. 

HOW TO SIT. 

To take a seat with grace, one foot should be 
placed behind, as if about to courtesy; carry 
the weight of the body to it, and, as the weight 
of the body is transferred to it, bend the torso 
forward and the head backward. Be careful 
not to " flop " or " drop " into the seat, but have 
the feet bear the weight of the body until the 
seat is reached. 

SPEECH. 

Upon what does perfection of speech de- 
pend ? 

Primarily upon a correct production of syl- 
lables and elementary sounds. Speech is cor- 
rectly defined as the faculty of expressing 
thought by articulate sounds. 

["All human utterances may be resolved into 
elementary sounds or oral actions; and all the 
varieties of phonic elements in different Ian- 



150 Elocution Class. 

guages are the result of definite mechanical 
adjustments of the organs of speech. The or- 
gans are the same in all men; and consequently 
every person possesses naturally the ability to 
speak any or every language." — Bell.] 

Name the operative vocal organs and their 
office. 

The operative vocal organs are : the lungs, to 
supply breath; the glottis, to vocalize it; the 
pharynx, to compress it; the tongue and the 
lips, to parcel it. 

What of the teeth ? 

They are not operative in speech. In masti- 
cation they are so. In speech we have simply 
to keep them out of the way. 

[" Notwithstanding the fact that grammarians 
have used the term 6 dentals' to denote a whole 
class of elementary sounds, there is not an ele- 
ment that cannot be distinctly formed by a 
speaker who hasnot a tooth in his head. The 
sound of th is the one in which the teeth are 
the most obviously employed; but the charac- 
teristic quality of the th may be produced with 
the tip of the tongue to any accessible part of 
the mouth — to the palate, to the gum, to the 
teeth, or even to the lips." — Bell.] 

After the correct production of the sound of 
a word, what is next in importance ? 



Speech. 151 

The proper placing of the accent. Accent is 
the greater stress which is given to a syllable. 
By changing the accent we often change the 
meaning. (Examples: Ac'cent, a noun; accent', 
a verb. Pres'ent, a noun; present', a verb.) 

In words of three or more syllables there are 
secondary accents employed. 

[The pupil should make lists of words, mark- 
ing primary and secondary accents.] 

What is emphasis ? 

Emphasis is the greater prominence we give 
to a word or phrase. 

Emphasis is to the word what accent is to the 
syllable. 

Where should emphasis be placed ? 

Wherever the "point" of the sentence lies. 
A clear conception of the author's meaning 
is absolutely necessary before one can give it to 
another, through correct accentuation. 

[In the examples for practice the emphatic 
words are printed in italics.] 

Exercise. 

/gave him those keys. 
I gave him those keys. 
I gave him those keys. 
I gave him those keys. 



152 Elocution Class. 

Exercise. 
At the close of the day — when the hamlet is still, 
And mortals the sweets oiforgetfulness prove; 
When naught but the torrent is heard on the hill, 
And naught but the nightingale's song in 
the grove : 
It was thus, by the cave of the mountain afar, 
While his harp rung symphonious, a hermit 
began ; 
No more with himself or with nature at war, 
He thought as a sage, tho" he felt as a man. 



GROUPING. 

Grouping or phrasing is effected by a pause. 

When two or more words are used substan- 
tively, pronominally, adjectively, or adverbially 
they should be uttered as one. 

Law. " No two words should be united which 
have not a mutual relation in forming sense; 
and no two such words should be separated." 

Examples. 

[The hyphens indicate that the words they 
are placed between are to be read as one reads 
compound words.] 

Smith | the - brother - in - law - of - Adams | 
the - tailor | came | as - soon - as - he - heard | 
the - terrible - news. 



Transition. 153 

William | so - great - was - his - interest - in- 
the - case | returned | to - the - city | on - the - 
first | train | that left | after - he - had - fin- 
ished | his - necessary -business. 

This separating words into groups to express 
ideas is a most important part of elocution. It 
should be impressed upon the youngest student 
that each tuord is not the sign of an idea — and 
that grammatical words are rather to be con- 
sidered merely as the syllables of what has been 
called the " oratorical word," which fully ex- 
presses the idea, or completes some part of it. 



TRANSITION. 

The speaker must seize every opportunity for 
change in Quality, Force, Pitch, and Time 
which the recitation presents. 

The ability to pass, with ease, from grave to 
gay, from lively to severe, is, in most instances, 
the result of discipline. 

The following exercise will give the pupil 
opportunity to practise "transition." 

CABAGTACUS. 
Oro- Close your gates, priests of Janus! 
tund. close your brazen temple gates ! 

For the bold Ostorius Scapula invokes 
the peaceful fates; 



154 Elocution Class. 

And the brave Britannic legion at the 
Arch of Triumph waits. 

Pure Bold Ostorius — home returning — for the 
tone. island war is o'er; 

And the wild Silurian rebels shall arise 

in arms no more : 
Captive stands their savage monarch on 
the Tiber's golden shore. 

Gradu- Crowded are the banks of Tiber, crowded 
Urease" is the Appian way; 

volume And through all the Via Sacra ye may 
vokse mark the dense array 

Of the tramping throngs who celebrate 
a Roman gala-day. 

Caractacus! Caractacus! Oh! full many 
a Roman child 
Quick To its mother's breast at midnight has 
time. been caught in terror wild, 

Aspi- When some fearful dream of Britain's 
rated. chief her sleeping sense beguiled. 

Thrice in battle sank our Eagles — shame 
that Romans lived to tell! 
Moder- Thrice three years our baffled legions 
force strove this rebel chief to quell : 

Vain were all our arms against him, till 
by treachery he fell. 



Transition. 



155 



Now, behold, he is our captive! in the 
market-place he stands, 

And around him are the lictors and the 
stern Pretorian bands — 

Stands he like a king among them, lift- 
ing high his shackled hands. 

Sure he sees the steel-clad cohorts, and 
he marks the lictors nigh, 
Gradu- Yet he stands before the monarch with 
Urease* a g lance as Proudly high 

force. As if he, in truth, were Caesar, and 
'twere Claudius that should die. 

Gazes he o'er prince and people, with a 
glance of wondering light, — 

O'er the Rostra, o'er the Forum, up the 
Palatinian height, 

O'er the serried ranks of soldiers 
stretching far beneath his sight. 

Tramping onward move the legions^ 
Gradu- tramping on with iron tread, 

louder. While Ostorius, marching vanward, 
proudly bends his martial head — 
Proudly bends to the ovation, meed of 
those whom valor led. 



Mono- 
tone. 



Statue-like, in savage grandeur, stands 
the chief of Britain's isle; 



156 Elocution Class. 

And his bearded lip is wreathing, as 

with silent scorn, the while. 

Ener- « g ](j barbarian! dost thou mock us, 
getic 7 

force. mock us with that bitter smile ? 

Q ro . "Lo! thou standest in the Forum, 
tund. where the stranger's voice is free, 

Where the captive may bear witness — 

thus our Koman laws decree! 

Lift thy voice, chief of Britons! 

'Tis the Caesar speaks to thee ! 

"Lift thy voice, wondering stranger! 
Increase thou hast marked our Koman state; 

ume of All the terrors, all the glories, that on 
tone. boundless empire wait! 

Boldly speak thy thought, Briton, be 
it framed in love or hate! " 

Thus our monarch to the stranger. 

Then, from off his forehead fair, 
Backward, with a Jove-like motion, 
flung the chief his golden hair: 
Soft ^ n( j h e sa j^ «q \m2 of Komans! 
oro- & 

tund. freely I my thought declare. 

" Vanquished is my warlike nation, 
stricken by the Eoman sword, 
Sl0 ^ Lost to me my wife and children, long 
sad. have I their fate deplored; 



Transition. 157 

They are gone — but gloomy Hertha still 
enthralls their hapless lord. 

" Yet I murmur not, but wonder — won- 

allv ^ er > as * n J°^ na dreams, 

louder. At each strange and glittering marvel 
that before my vision gleams; 
At the blaze of Eoman glory which 
upon my senses streams. 

"Komans! even as gods ye prosper, 
Oro- boundless are your gifts and powers ! 

Pure* Ye nave fi e ^ s with grain overladen, 
tone. gardens thick with fruits and flow- 

ers, 
Halls of shining marble builded, cities 
Louder. strong with battling towers. 

" I have marked your gorgeous dwellings 

and your works of wondrous art : 
Bridges high in air suspended, columned 
shrine, and gilded mart, 
Median And I marvelled — much I marvelled — in 
stress. my poor barbarian heart. 

" For this day I saw your mighty gods 
Q ro . beneath the Pantheon dome, — 

tund. Gods of gold, and bronze, and silver, — 

and I marvelled, king of Eome, 
Gentle That such wealthy gods should envy 
force. me my poor, barbarian home!" 



158 Elocution Class. 

Ceased the chief, and on the pavement 
sadly sank his tearful eyes, 

And the wondering crowds around him 
held their breath in mute surprise; 

Held their breath — and then outburst- 
ing, clove the air with sudden cries : 

T r- " Caesar, he hath spoken bravely! Clau- 
stress. dius, he hath spoken well ! " 

Not unmoved the brow of Caesar — it 
hath lost the Claudian frown; 
Slow. And a tear upon his royal cheek is 
slowly trickling down : 
Never purer gem than Pity's tear en- 
riched a monarch's crown ! 

Yet he speaks in anger's accents: "Ho! 
Loud. advance the fasces now; 

Lictors! close ye round the scorner! 

Ha! barbarian, smilest thou ? 
There is one beneath whose glances 

even thy haughty soul shall bow ! " 

Thus spoke Claudius, and the soldiers, 
opening round the curule chair, 

Half revealed a form majestic mid the 
lictors bending there, — 

Half revealed a stately woman, mantled 
by her radiant hair. 



Picturing. 159 

Quick. Flashed the captive's eye with sunlight; 
burned his cheek with new-born life — 
Hope, and fear, and doubt, and glad- 
ness, held by turns their eager strife — 
Then two hearts and voices mingled, 
murmuring, "Husband!" answering 
"Wife!" 
[In the last stanza the reciter must picture, 
by " the shade," hope, fear, doubt, and gladness. 
The word "husband!" should be given in a 
sweet tremulous tone, and the word " wife ! " 
in a full tone, replete with love and gladness.] 



PICTURING. 

What is picturing? 

Picturing in elocution consists in painting 
vividly the scenes and characters to be por- 
trayed. Picturing is, therefore, a summary of 
the art of elocution. To picture well, one must, 
first of all, have a clear conception of the scene; 
second, one must locate objects in an artistic 
manner, introduce the different characters of 
the piece by looks and gesture; and finally, one 
must study each role and represent the charac- 
ter truthfully. This implies a vast amount of 
labor; but each recitation given in this manner 
is a work of art, and is an illustration of the ap- 
plication of the laws and principles of expression* 



HYGIENE. 

By Charles V. Burke, M.D., 

Clinical Physician and Asst. -Pathologist to St. Michael's 
Hospital, Newark, N. J. 

INTEODUCTIOK 

Ik the following pages it has been my 
endeavor to give an outline of the prevent- 
ive value of exercise, especially of respiratory 
exercise, and to direct attention to a few impor- 
tant points in the hygiene of school life. 

It is a mistake to think that only those who 
have "talent" should receive elocutionary in- 
struction, and the ability to " speak a piece " is 
the least of the benefits derived from such in- 
struction. The education of the vocal appa- 
ratus involves a development which not only 
adds an accomplishment, but is a real pre- 
ventive of disease. If a course in elocution 
resulted only in the student's learning how to 
breathe properly, he would be amply repaid. 

The need of some knowledge of the right 
use of the body is fast becoming recognized by 

1G0 



Preventive Value of Elocutionary Exercise. 161 

teachers, and it is to be hoped that a course in 
elementary physiology and hygiene will soon 
have a place in every school curriculum. 

Teachers are requested to consult works upon 
these subjects, and students should be encouraged 
to pursue further a study which can only redound 
in good to the individual and the community. 

As this is written for those who have no, or 
but slight knowledge of such matters, I have 
avoided technical terms as far as possible, and 
have tried to present a few fundamental ideas 
in an easily assimilable form. 



PREVENTIVE VALUE OF ELOCU- 
TIONARY EXERCISE. 

In all times it has been recognized that some 
individuals were susceptible to certain morbid 
influences and that others were not. When a 
person is susceptible to invasion by a disease he 
is said to have a predisposition to that disease. 
Such a predisposition may be either hereditary 
or acquired. 

We cannot enter into the consideration of the 
mysteries of heredity, but suffice it to say that 
it is undeniable that a man's progenitors may 
bequeath him a body peculiarly susceptible to 
the diseases from which they suffered. Acquired 



1 62 Elocution Class. 

predisposition is a more tangible thing, and 
it is to this we will direct our attention. 

Every living body is constantly righting dis- 
ease. The excitants of disease are continually 
entering the body by every channel, and are as 
continually being destroyed or rendered innoc- 
uous. The body resists disease. This resist- 
ance to morbid influences rises and falls with 
the vital tone of the tissues. Anything that 
lessens the vitality of the tissues lessens resist- 
ance. Thus, pre-existing disease, malnutrition 
from any cause, paves the way for the ubiqui- 
tous germ, offers a favorable soil for its growth 
and multiplication, and opens the door which 
in health was closed and guarded. 

Modern scientists have demonstrated that 
many diseases are caused by certain low forms 
of plant life, bacteria. Bacteria exist every- 
where, and if all forms were pathogenic (disease 
producing) mankind would soon be annihilated. 
But such is, happily, not the case. Many 
species are harmless to man, others are even 
beneficial; the alimentary canal swarms with 
bacteria which aid in carrying on certain food 
changes. The micro-organism which interests 
us chiefly in this chapter is called the tubercle 
bacillus. It is the active agent in the produc- 
tion of that dreaded disease, tuberculosis of the 



Preventive Value of Elocutionary Exercise. 163 

lungs — consumption. One has but to read a few 
of the weekly mortality reports published in 
the newspapers to learn of the part played for 
the Eeaper by this disease, and to appreciate 
the importance of anything that would tend to 
lessen the suffering and death laid to its ac- 
count. Hundreds of its victims, in all but the 
final stages, move among us, and through that 
filthy habit of promiscuous expectoration de- 
posit in the streets, in public buildings, in 
vehicles, everywhere, myriads of virulent germs. 
These dry, and the wind blows them, still living, 
in our faces, into our mouths and noses, and 
we breathe them into our lungs, and we swallow 
them. Follow these germs into the lungs of a 
person who has breathed improperly for years. 
There is a portion of his lung, generally at the 
apex, which has been seldom fully aerated; its 
circulation is sluggish, its nutrition is poor, its 
vitality is lowered. Here the bacilli find a 
fertile soil; they multiply and produce their 
characteristic manifestations. The person is 
now a consumptive, and if prompt and intelli- 
gent treatment does not change the conditions, 
he slowly but surely sinks to his death. 

It is important that everybody should know 
something of the cause and mode of spread of tu- 
berculosis, for it is the most widespread and fatal 



164 Elocution Class. 

of all the diseases that we have to battle against, 
and because it is a distinctly preventable disease. 
Aside from sanitary measures in the isola- 
tion of the sick and the destruction of the 
germs, our aim should be to maintain the nutri- 
tion of every part of the body at its highest 
point. To do this two things are necessary: 

1. A supply of nutritive material sufficient to 
replace what is consumed in developing the 
energies of the body and to provide a surplus 
for increase or growth of the body. 

2. The proper use or exercise of the body. 
We speak now only of the second, and espe- 
cially in its relation to the proper use of the lungs. 

When a muscle contracts it squeezes the 
blood out of its veins laden with waste products, 
which are to be removed ultimately from the 
body, and a flood of fresh arterial blood carry- 
ing nutritive material is poured into the mus- 
cular tissue. The circulation of the organ is 
improved, effete matters gotten rid of, and the 
nutrition aiad vitality rise. The lung tissue 
itself is not muscular, and depends for its 
proper aeration upon the action of the respira- 
tory muscles. The aeration of the lungs im- 
proves the circulation in them in a manner 
analogous to that of the muscle. With im- 
proved circulation comes improved nutrition 



Preventive Value of Elocutionary Exercise. 165 

and increased resistance to injurious influences. 
A collapsed and atrophied lung that receives 
but little of the life-giving blood constantly in- 
vites disease. The functions of the lungs and 
heart are the fundamental functions of the 
body. Upon them the welfare of all the other- 
functions depends. It should be the aim of ed- 
ucational gymnastics to develop these funda- 
mental functions; and any system which neg- 
lects this is imperfect and injurious. 

Breathing is carried on without conscious 
effort on our part; it is automatic. Waking or 
sleeping, the muscles which expand the chest 
alternately and rhythmically contract and relax, 
and it is impossible for us to cease to breathe by 
mere exercise of will, except for a very short 
time. If the modern man lived in a physio- 
logically correct environment the automatism 
of the respiratory function would do its work 
thoroughly and perfectly. But civilized life 
involves so many departures from an ideal 
hygienic condition that it has become necessary 
to teach the modern man even how to breathe. 
Occupation, clothes, dwellings, and numerous 
other conditions incident to life among crowds 
combine to bring about this effect. 

At each inspiration every part of the lungs 
should receive a fresh supply of air. To do this 



166 Elocution Class. 

necessitates a full, though not a forcible, ex- 
pansion of the chest; therefore anything that re- 
stricts the free play of the chest should be dis- 
carded, and any position that brings pressure 
upon the chest or abdomen avoided. The cav- 
ity of the chest containing the lungs is enlarged 
in all its diameters by the lifting of the ribs and 
the descent of the muscular partition, the dia- 
phragm, which shuts it off from the abdominal 
cavity. The mere elevation of the ribs is ena- 
bled to enlarge the chest in both its antero- 
posterior and transverse diameters by virtue of 
their peculiar curves, and the angle at which 
they articulate with the vertebral column. The 
diaphragm is a muscular wall forming the floor 
of the chest cavity; it is dome-shaped, with its 
convexity upward. In inspiration it contracts, 
the dome descends and flattens, thus enlarging 
the chest cavity in its perpendicular diameter. 
Much nonsense has been written about the ac- 
tion of the diaphragm, and astonishing igno- 
rance displayed by writers of pretentious works 
on elocution and physical culture. I have re- 
peatedly seen it stated in such books that the 
diaphragm is a muscle of expiration. This is 
not true. The diaphragm is solely a muscle of 
inspiration ; it is perfectly passive in expiration. 
At the end of inspiration the muscles relax, the 



Preventive Value of Elocutionary Exercise. 167 

ribs fall, the diaphragm ascends, the chest cav- 
ity is lessened, the air is expelled from the 
lungs. All this occurs without muscular effort, 
and by the recoil of the lungs alone. The lungs 
are elastic, they are continually on the stretch, 
and when the expanding chest-wall ceases to 
pull upon them they contract, drawing with 
them the chest-wall and diaphragm. It is only 
in forced breathing that muscular action has 
any part in expiration. 

By training we can impress upon the res- 
piratory apparatus deranged by injurious influ- 
ences a habit of correct action. The study of 
elocution involves this training and the conse- 
quent development, and in this lies its chief 
value; for refinement and culture are ever the 
possession of the few, but physical (also moral) 
superiority benefits the race and state as a 
whole. Exercises that tend to the development 
of the respiratory apparatus are given in the 
body of this book. 

Where disease has already obtained a foothold 
certain modifications of method are necessary 
to be followed in training before the average 
health is re-established. These modifications 
form a branch by themselves, called Medical 
Gymnastics, which can only be treated of in a 
work upon Therapy. 



168 Elocution Class. 

HYGIENE OP SCHOOL LIFE. 

From the first glimmer of reason the child is 
constantly receiving impressions through every 
sense. The accumulated impressions make the 
moral and mental character. Training, there- 
fore, should begin in the cradle. 

The time at which it is proper to send a child 
to school should not be judged by the age, by 
the intellectual development, or by the eager- 
ness to learn. No one factor should determine 
such an important step, but the whole being 
should be looked at and primary importance 
given to the physical development. The child 
has its whole life to study and learn, but it has 
only the first ten years or so to lay the founda- 
tion of a long life of health and happiness. I 
must strongly protest against the pernicious 
custom of sending children from the cradle to 
the school-room, which often results in produc- 
ing those melancholy examples of the blindness 
of parental pride, infant prodigies, but more 
frequently in stunted mind and body in place 
of intellectual and physical strength. 

In the first decade of life let them vegetate. 
If possible, turn them into the woods and fields, 
to rub up against Nature and learn to love her; 
have sight, hearing, touch, every sense sharpened 



Hygiei i e of Sell ool Life . 169 

and trained as no other teacher can train them. 
The kindergarten system in a manner obviates 
this necessity of keeping children so long from 
school, for in it the tasks are light, of a pleasant 
nature, and liberally interlarded with exercise 
and play. Too much cannot be said in praise 
of this method when intelligently carried out. 

The selection of a school should be made 
with care and forethought. What studied at- 
tention, or even worry, will a in other give to the 
woollen clothes of her child, weighing the effect 
on complexion, figure, etc.; but how often does 
chance or convenience dictate the choice of the 
weavers of that child's mental trappings, or 
mind garments, which are but seldom or never 
renewed. As I am speaking to Catholics it is 
not necessary to plead the cause of the soul in 
education (the mind is looked after by all who 
give education any thought) ; it is my part to 
call attention to the claims of the body. " With 
stupidity and sound digestion man may front, 
much." I do not wish to disparage mental 
brilliancy, but to accentuate the relationship 
between health and material happiness. See 
therefore that the school to which the boy or 
girl is sent is one wherein the body as well as 
the mind is trained. Make it your business to 
inquire concerning the sanitary condition of the 



170 Elocution Glass. 

buildings, the arrangements for drainage, heat- 
ing, and, above all, for light and air. The rela- 
tions of air to life are constantly ignored in our 
schools and churches. The architect strives 
for effect, the builder for cheapness, and the 
end and object of the structure seems too fre- 
quently lost sight of. 

The school is made by the student, it exists 
only for the student, and in every detail the 
student should first be considered. Whether 
ignorance or parsimony be the cause, it is cer- 
tain that when parents and guardians insist 
upon these conditions they will be fulfilled. 

I will briefly consider the hygiene of school 
life under four heads, not to lay down rules, but 
merely to indicate the lines along which this 
study is to be pursued. 

Food. — Foods are divided into three great 
classes : carbohydrates, proteids, and fats. Bread, 
vegetables, fruits, etc., are equivalent to carbo- 
hydrates; flesh of animals, milk, eggs, are equiv- 
alent to proteids; butter, lard, etc., to fats. The 
diet should contain enough of these three kinds 
of food to replace the waste of the tissues and to 
supply material for growth. The proportion of 
nitrogenous (proteid) to non-nitrogenous (car- 
bohydrates and fats) should be about 1 : 3. 
These are best obtained by mixed feeding. 



Hygiene of School Life. 171 

Vegetarianism is a delusion. The human ali- 
mentary canal is not adapted for the digestion 
of the large masses of food necessarily ingested 
when vegetables alone are used. There is no 
particular class of food which is peculiarly 
adapted to the student's needs; the brain-build- 
ing properties of certain foods (e.g., fish) are 
imaginary. In health and where adequate exer- 
cise is taken, the ordinary mixed diet fulfils 
all indications. Where sufficient exercise is not 
taken, with almost any diet digestive disorders 
(the skirmish line of disease) are apt to appear, 
and they are invited and fostered by the bakery, 
where the student, both male and female, de- 
lights to feast upon pies, cakes, cream puffs, 
and other dietetic horrors. Going from the 
table back immediately to the desk is the source 
of many differences between the mind and the 
stomach. Insufficient supply of water is also- 
one of the most common mistakes, especially 
among girls. The function of water in the 
body is a most important one, and a well-defined 
group of disorders owe their origin in great part 
to a lack of this fluid. About three pints a day 
is the proper quantity, and it is best taken pure. 
Without going into detail in the matter, it may 
be said that any one doing active work requires 
more nitrogenous (proteid) matter than one at 



172 Elocution Class. 

rest, and that children and women require less 
than men. But it should be noted that a 
healthy growing boy may consume and require 
more than an adult man. Variety of diet is 
essential to the proper maintenance of nutrition; 
even milk, which is an ideal food, containing 
everything necessary to supply waste, if fed upon 
exclusively for too long a time, will produce 
emaciation and loss of strength. The amount 
and character of food required at different 
periods of life have been mathematically calcu- 
lated, but such tables have a very limited appli- 
cation. Every one is a law unto himself, and 
the body makes known its wants, which the in- 
telligent can perceive. For the boy or girl at 
school, then, a plain mixed diet, avoiding pastry 
and confectionery, prohibiting tea and coffee 
and highly-seasoned foods until fourteen, and 
for liquid milk and a liberal quantity of water. 
It would be wrong to close a paragraph on ali- 
mentation without mentioning the importance 
of regularity in the excretory functions. 

Air. — The relations of air to life and health 
are most intimate. Oxygen, its life-giving con- 
stituent, enters into the minute blood corpuscles 
in the lung, and is distributed by the circulat- 
ing blood to every cell in the body. To deprive 
a person of a sufficient quantity of oxygen de- 



Hygiene of /School Life. 173 

ranges not only the lungs and circulatory or- 
gans, but every part of the body; every cell and • 
fibre, from the delicate brain cell, with its mar- 
vellous properties, to the solid bone that sup- 
ports him, feels that loss. When air is breathed 
by a person he not only takes oxygen from it, 
but he adds to it carbonic acid and certain or- 
ganic matters which he exhales from the lungs; 
the skin also gives to the surrounding air a part 
of its excreta. This air, which has been once 
respired, is not only useless for human beings, 
but it is positively poisonous. Its most harmful 
properties are not due to the carbonic acid, but 
to the organic matters thrown off from the 
lungs. There is a curious indifference to im- 
pure air ; very dainty people, who could not 
touch a plate of soup in which they had seen 
the waiter's thumb immersed, do not object to 
taking into their lungs the foul, poisonous air 
which has been in and out of numerous other 
people, perhaps dirty, perhaps diseased. 

There should be provided for every occupant 
of a room about 3000 cubic feet of fresh air every 
hour. In addition to this, every ordinary gas 
burner consuming three feet of gas per hour ne- 
cessitates a supply of 5400 cubic feet of fresh air. 

In a small room with numerous occupants 
this requires so frequent a renewal of the air 



174 Elocution Class. 

that it is difficult or even impossible to secure 
that change without draughts. Good ventilation 
does not mean draughts, generally speaking. If 
the cubic space per head is increased, the fre- 
quency of the change of air may be reduced. A 
space of 750 to 1000 cubic feet per head should 
be provided for in an apartment, and then a 
change of air three or four times an hour can be 
effected without draughts. In private dwellings 
efficient ventilation is not a difficult problem; 
the porosity of the walls, minute crevices, open 
fires etc., are generally capable of maintaining 
a fairly pure atmosphere. In schools with 
crowded classrooms, stupidly arranged, it is diffi- 
cult. Every school should have a system of ar- 
tificial ventilation, of which there are several 
quite successful. Where this is lacking, and in 
old buildings, the attention of those in charge 
should be constantly directed to the atmosphere 
of the classrooms. By opening small spaces of 
a number of windows instead of one window 
widely, or, better, by inserting a piece of plank 
three or four inches wide beneath the lower 
sash, which allows of the entrance of air through 
the space between the two sashes, where it is di- 
rected upward and a draught avoided, some 
yentilation can be obtained. Never ventilate 
rooms from the hall, but always the hall from 



Hygiene of School Life. 175 

the rooms. The recesses or changes of class 
should be arranged so that the classrooms are 
emptied and an opportunity given to flood them 
with fresh air several times a day. The teacher 
who gives a little attention to these things will 
soon note the improvement if she has before 
marked the drooping heads, the drowsy eyes, the 
growing listlessness of the pupils as the day 
lengthens, the result, not of mental labor, but of 
the carbonized atmosphere. In the sleeping- 
rooms the same care should be taken to secure 
a constant supply of fresh air, and the popular 
fear of the night air should be put aside ; after 
the sun goes down there is no air but night air. 
During sleep the whole body is recruited, and 
oxygen is a prime factor in this rehabilitation of 
the tissues and storing up of energy. Children 
should be induced to give their lungs a chance; 
air is about the only thing that is free, and 
though draughts and exposure are sometimes 
pernicious, the coddling plan is infinitely more 
so. The dangers of a dust-laden atmosphere 
were hinted at when speaking of tuberculosis. 

Exercise and Play. — The folly of developing 
but one side of the body would be apparent; that 
of developing but one side of the being is as sense- 
less. The body must be cultivated if we would 
raise up men and women whose life is not a bur- 



176 Elocution Class. 

den and who are worthy and capable of perpetu- 
ating the nation. 

Physical exercise may be divided into that 
which is taken within doors, in gymnasia or 
classrooms, and that which is taken in the 
field or on the water. The latter is by far the 
more preferable. The element of enjoyment is 
greater, and the subtle forces of nature seem to 
infuse themselves into the being and expand it 
with life. For a large number the indoor exer- 
cises only are practicable. There are many sys- 
tems of gymnastics, simple and elaborate. All 
contain something good, but the Swedish system 
of Ling is probably the best. It is arranged to 
meet an essential and general educational pur- 
pose, and is adaptable to existing educational 
institutions. It does not try to develop physical 
specialists, but only to train the different organs 
of the body in a manner that they may serve the 
great double purpose of promoting the efficiency 
of the circulatory and respiratory functions and 
of increasing the volitional control of the whole 
body. To perceive the benefit to be derived from 
gymnastics one need only state a few familiar 
facts. Whether necessary or not, the pupils 
have been doing their work in a sitting posture, 
the chest more or less contracted, the upper part 
of the body leaning forward against the desk, 



Hygiene of School Life. 177 

the thorax bent forward and downward, pressing 
downward upon the abdominal organs, and 
somewhat checking the venous circulation of 
these organs. This state of injurious muscular 
repose has continued for hours. As a conse- 
quence we have these results: A more or less 
temporary passive congestion, or tendency to 
congestion of the brain and abdominal organs: 
restricted action of the chest, decreased respira- 
tion, the general tone of the muscles lowered, 
and the mind tired from prolonged concentra- 
tion. The first object of the exercises must be 
to counteract these evils, to relieve the brain 
and the oppressed organs, to reinstate a healthy 
respiration and circulation, to tone up the body 
generally, at the same time giving attention to 
the educational purpose of the exercises. The 
power of mental concentration agrees with a 
curve that rises steadily for one hour and then 
gradually falls. After one hour, with the aver- 
age pupil.it is spurring a jaded steed: therefore, 
at the end of every hour there should be some 
interruption of class work, a change of class, re- 
cess, or exercise. At least in these formative 
years play should alternate with work, and that 
play which involves physical exercise is the 
most desirable. Hence the value of athletic 
sports, w^hich no amount of gymnasium work 



178 Elocution Class. 

can replace. The tendency to overdo these 
should be restrained by proper authority, and all 
exercise, in and out of doors, should, where pos- 
sible, be under the supervision of a medical di- 
rector, who would ascertain the needs of each 
student and prescribe for him the kind and 
amount of exercise fitted to his case. Where 
means are limited, a few simple movements can 
be studied and taught by any teacher, and with- 
out any apparatus the condition and working 
power of a class can be wonderfully improved. 

Study. — The greater part of the pupil's time 
is, unfortunately, spent in the study of books. 
Study should be pursued according to the 
dictates of hygienic law. We should strive to 
get the maximum amount of profit with the 
minimum expenditure of vital energy. A great 
many spend more time learning how to study 
than they do in acquiring a knowledge of their 
subjects. But that is the teacher's affair. The 
proper duration of continued study must be 
determined for each individual by observation. 
It varies greatly. In no case should study be 
continued to the point of mental exhaustion. 
At all times harmful, this is especially injurious 
when the study is done at night, for the over- 
tired brain refuses to rest, and insomnia results. 
The period of the day most favorable to study 



Hygiene of School Life, 179 

also varies wim the individual. The usual 
advice is to get up early and study in the morn- 
ing. To those who study best at that time it 
is good advice, to others it is nonsense. 

The curve of mental power is found to reach 
its highest point in the middle of the afternoon. 
So on physiological grounds alone the morning 
is not the best time for study. 

The care of the eyes is one of the most im- 
portant and one of the most neglected branches 
of the hygiene of school life. Beading should 
never be allowed where there is not a good light, 
which should fall upon the page and not upon the 
eyes. It is frightful to think of the frequent 
mischief to eyesight that has been caused by the 
neglect at schools of the most elementary requi- 
sites to protect it from unnecessary strain, such 
as an abundance of light coming from a proper 
direction, and desks so shaped that the book or 
paper is supported squarely before the reader. 

The stupid want of care in providing these 
essentials to eye-comfort has gone far towards 
converting the educated classes into short- 
sighted classes. 

The position of the body during the hours at 
the desk should receive attention. Cramped, 
sidelong, or lolling positions interfere with 
respiration and circulation, and in young bodies 



180 Elocution Class. 

tend to produce deformities. Girls when they 
slide sideways into benches often allow their 
skirts to be heaped up under one hip, tilting 
the pelvis, and producing a compensating curve 
of the spine which n^y be made permanent. 
A seat that will discourage lolling, etc., does 
not mean an uncomfortable seat. If any edu- 
cator thinks he is stimulating cerebral activity 
by placing the pupil upon a hard, comfortless 
bench with a back most aggressively knobby he 
is grievously mistaken. 

Next to abuse of the eyes "cramming" for 
examinations is productive of most ill. In 
young girls it is especially pernicious, and often 
results in shattering their nervous systems for 
life. If I were ignorant of the school calendar 
I could tell when examinations were at hand 
by the number of cases of chorea (St. Vitus* 
dance) which come to my clinic at that time. 
There is no defence for " cramming," for knowl- 
edge gained in that manner is never retained 
but for a short time. 

At present examinations seem to be a neces- 
sary evil, but the science and art of pedagogy is 
advancing rapidly, and soon I hope we will look 
back upon examinations as we now look upon 
torture. 

PRINTED BY BENZIGER BROTHERS, NEW YORK. 



